Attorney General Ken Paxton led a 23-State coalition to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for adopting a Final Rule that would unlawfully tax the oil and gas industry in the last days of the Biden Administration.
In January 2024, the EPA proposed a plan to implement a Methane Tax that was created in the Inflation Reduction Act. The new tax would force many energy producers to pay the government more money for the purpose of so-called “climate benefits.” In addition to being bad policy, however, the rule is unlawful. The proposed regulations represent arbitrary and capricious actions that exceed the agency’s statutory authority.
After the Biden Administration announced the rule, Attorney General Paxton joined a multi-state coalition of Attorneys General urging the EPA to abandon the unlawful regulations that would burden the nation’s energy industry. Now that the EPA has issued a Final Rule, Attorney General Paxton has sued the Biden Administration to prevent the regulation from taking effect.
“Over the past four years I have opposed the Biden Administration more than 100 times to stop its radical attempts to undermine the law. I am positive this last-minute effort to harm the energy industry will be halted as well,” said Attorney General Paxton. “In only four days, when President-elect Trump resumes office, America will no longer be burdened by a runaway bureaucracy intent on destroying our liberties.”
To read the filing, click here.