Dear Representative,

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities.  Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation.  The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media. 
 
LCV urges you to vote NO on H.J. Res. 36, the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” of the Methane and Waste Prevention Rule. This extreme legislative measure would waste a valuable taxpayer resource and threaten our health, public lands, and the climate with dangerous methane pollution from the oil and gas industry by permanently blocking the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Methane and Waste Prevention Rule.

The BLM’s Methane Rule updates outdated standards for oil and gas production on public and tribal lands by requiring companies to deploy readily available, cost-effective measures to reduce methane lost through venting, flaring, and leaks. This commonsense approach will begin to decrease the over $300 million in natural gas that is wasted each year from our public and tribal lands, reducing the loss of a valuable natural resource and providing up to $800 million in royalty revenues to states, tribes, and federal taxpayers over the next decade. Additionally, the Methane Rule will reduce hazardous air pollutants that damage the health of local communities by contributing to increased smog, asthma attacks, and other respiratory ailments. Methane pollution is also a potent greenhouse gas, and the rule is an important step in reducing our contributions to a changing climate that threatens our health, communities, ecosystems, economy, security, and way of life.

H.J. Res. 36 is an extreme resolution that would not only overturn the Methane Rule, but would prohibit the BLM from developing any “substantially similar” measure in the future. This vague and harmful language could prevent the BLM from ever issuing updated regulations that reduce methane pollution from our public and tribal lands, undermining BLM’s basic obligation to protect taxpayer resources and the health of our public lands.

We urge you to REJECT H.J. Res. 36, the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” of the Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, a radical bill that would imperil our health, climate, and public lands with dangerous methane pollution and waste a valuable taxpayer resource. We will strongly consider including the vote on this legislation in the 2017 Scorecard.  If you need more information, please call my office at (202) 785-8683 and ask to speak with a member of our government relations team.

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski
President