Tag: Environmental politics

It was the day before the Senate was set to vote on a measure to repeal a 2016 Obama administration Interior Department rule limiting methane emissions from gas wells on federal land. The Trump administration is working to replace the Interior Department rule with a weaker alternative, while a lawsuit from the oil industry and some Western states threatens to block implementation of the old rule. Even though Lachelt is not barred from environmental work while holding office, three county residents are seeking to recall her, saying her trip is evidence that she’s “repeatedly leveraged our public office for her private gain.” NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Michigan Lachelt had a long history in the environmental movement before taking office. Dave Peters, one of the residents leading the recall effort, pointed to that environmental work as proof that Lachelt is out of step with her constituents. Well before NASA put the Four Corners’ problem on the map, Lachelt had been raising the alarm about what gas drilling was doing to the Durango area. The agency estimated the rule would cut 175,000 to 180,000 tons of methane per year. The Obama EPA also issued a new regulation in 2016 requiring well operators to monitor and repair leaks for both new and modified natural gas wells and had started to lay the groundwork to regulate existing infrastructure. Peters, one of the three people now leading the recall effort, first filed an ethics complaint against Lachelt last summer after the trip to Washington where she lobbied McCain, arguing that she needed to disclose who was funding the environmental group she also works for. Peters said his “concerns on Lachelt’s bias” have increased amid the fiscal trouble, saying it’s “clear to me that Lachelt’s efforts against the oil and gas industry was compounding the county’s revenue problems.” Peters hadn’t found enough support for a recall until a December meeting on proposed revisions to the county’s land use code, which all three county commissioners backed. Environmentalists say Colorado’s methane rules are proof that regulations don’t have to choke industry.