Ft. Berthold tribes to benefit from methane pollution control order

MANDAREE, N. D. – Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation residents, who live at the center of the oil fields in the Bakken Formation here, steered a virtual welcome wagon to the courthouse steps July 16, to thank a federal judge for an order cancelling a two-year-long rollback of protections against leaked and flared frack gases at wellheads.

“The court’s ruling is a victory for people who are bearing the brunt of federal and tribal oil-and-gas development,” said Lisa Deville, vice chair of Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights, or POWER, which is one of many organizations nationwide that joined states in suing over the rollback of pollution controls.

In September of 2018 the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, announced the rollback of the 2016 regulations for Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation, commonly called the Methane Rule or the Waste Prevention Rule.

The rule had been approved on the basis of BLM parent Interior Department data showing that companies wasted an estimated 462 billion cubic feet of gas on public and tribal lands through venting, flaring and leaks between 2009 and 2015 — enough gas to serve more than 6.2 million homes for a year.

The primary component of that gas is methane, a greenhouse gas 87 times more powerful than its closest competitor, carbon dioxide. Other wellhead pollutants that are leaked and vented contribute to smog formation, causing respiratory problems. Some frack waste pollutants, like benzene, are known carcinogens.

Northern District of California U.S. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rebuffed the agency for its refusal to investigate the public health impacts of rescinding this rule on the people living near oil-and-gas facilities, especially those on tribal lands.

“BLM has failed to satisfy its ‘hard look’ obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act with respect to the rescission’s impact on public health, both generally, and specifically on tribal communities,” she wrote. She ordered the rule be reinstated within 90 days.

Meanwhile, DeVille observed, every day that passes, “invisible methane spills impact our people’s health, contributing to asthma and other respiratory health issues.”

In reaching a decision, the judge acknowledged evidence showing that the environmental impacts of wasted frack gas are an environmental justice issue for Native Americans living in low-income communities.

She relied on case law “concluding that tribal communities experience disproportionate health risks from oil-and-gas emissions because they are more likely to live within 0.5 miles of an oil-and-gas well, and that Native Americans living on tribal land in North Dakota, New Mexico, and Utah experience more than double each state’s average poverty rates.”

The judge also relied on DeVille’s testimony at public hearings for the establishment of the Methane Rule dating back six years. When the rule took effect, some 11,000 people lived within a mile of a flare in North Dakota, DeVille testified.

The judge noted that “the record contains ample evidence of regional impacts, especially on tribal populations, which was ignored,” with the recission.

A recipient of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition “Arc of Justice Award” for outstanding environmental justice achievements and a member of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, headquartered at Ft. Berthold, Deville told the Native Sun News Today that when U.S. President Donald Trump came into office he rescinded his predecessor Barack Obama’s environmental rules “to make it easier for oil-and-gas industry to extract and construct.”

The states of California and New Mexico immediately sued the Trump Administration over the rule rollback, which was a direct result of POTUS Executive Order 13771, Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs, Executive Order 13783, Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, and Secretarial Order 3349, American Energy Independence.

The judge’s order is “great news,” DeVille said. “Thank you to all who have made this a victory and for your persistence, dedication and for never giving up!”

Robin Cooley, an Earthjustice attorney representing the tribal and conservation citizen groups in the lawsuit, said in their welcome-wagon statement:  “Most importantly, the judge said the Administration cannot ignore the impacts on health and well-being of the people who live near oil-and-gas facilities. This is a resounding win for American taxpayers, the environment, and the communities most at-risk from this industry,” she added.

“Once again, the courts are confirming that the Trump Administration can’t just scrap environmental protections and ignore its responsibility to hold polluters accountable and protect our communities from toxic pollution,” said Kelly Martin, director of the plaintiff Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign.

“The court’s decision is a win for science-based decision-making and the climate, at a time when the Trump Administration is trying every way possible to give polluters a free pass,” said Alison Flint, senior legal director for The Wilderness Society.

“I’m so excited by this ruling because strong air pollution rules for the federal wells on our ranch means I may be able to spend more time with my family in Montana again,” said Laurie Wilson, a member of the plaintiff Western Organization of Resource Councils.

The 2016 Methane Rule was the first update to BLM’s standards to reduce waste from oil-and-gas development on public and tribal lands in more than 35 years. The rule requires industry to use proven, low-cost technologies and practices to reduce venting and flaring and to fix leaks in infrastructure. It also saves taxpayers millions of dollars by requiring companies to pay royalties when they waste gas on public lands.

 

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

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