Federal judge temporarily blocks Biden administration rule to limit flaring of gas at oil wells

BISMARCK, ND — A federal judge in North Dakota has temporarily suspended a new rule from the Biden administration aimed at reducing the venting and burning of natural gas at oil wells.

“At this preliminary stage, plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim, the 2024 rule is arbitrary and capricious,” U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor ruled Friday, as reported by the Bismarck Tribune.

North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming and Utah challenged the rule in federal court earlier this year, arguing that it would hamper oil and gas production and that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management is exceeding its regulatory authority over non-federal minerals and air pollution.

The agency says the rule is intended to reduce gas waste and that royalty owners would receive more than $50 million in additional payments if the measure were to pass.

But Traynor wrote that the rules “add nothing more than a layer of federal regulation on top of existing federal regulation.”

When oil is pumped, natural gas often comes up as a byproduct. Gas is not as profitable as oil, so it is vented or flared unless the right equipment is in place to capture it.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a climate “super polluter” which is many times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term.

Well operators have significantly reduced flaring rates in North Dakota in recent years, but they still hover around 5%, the Tribune reported. Reductions require infrastructure to capture, transport and use that gas.

North Dakota politicians were pleased with the ruling.

“The Biden-Harris administration continues to seek to overregulate and ultimately weaken North Dakota’s energy production capacity,” Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in a statement.

The Bureau of Land Management declined to comment.