The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told Reuters it will move to rescind the Biden-era rule targeting methane leaks from oil and gas operations, with the action framed as "soon."

The announcement puts a formal rollback on a near-term regulatory track. EPA did not disclose a Federal Register publication date or specify whether it intends a full repeal, a partial stay, or a replacement rule covering a narrower set of sources.

The methane rule, finalized in the closing phase of the Biden administration, established standards for detecting and repairing leaks across new and existing oil and gas infrastructure. Methane carries a 20-year warming potential roughly 80 times that of carbon dioxide per Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change figures, which is why the regulation drew simultaneous backing from environmental groups and opposition from producers and state attorneys general.

EPA's stated intent to "rescind" — rather than revise — narrows the regulatory path. Two procedural routes sit before the agency: a formal notice-and-comment rescission that unwinds the standard entirely, or a narrower administrative stay that pauses enforcement pending reconsideration. Industry counsel typically models a major-rule rescission at 12 to 24 months from proposal to final rule, while a stay can move within weeks.

The agency's choice will set the rule's legal posture for years.

What changes for waste and recycling operators

The methane rule does not directly regulate municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. Oil and gas infrastructure was its primary target. But the rule set a precedent for using Clean Air Act Section 111 authority against diffuse methane sources — a regulatory tool landfill operators and gas-capture vendors monitor in case EPA eventually extends it.

Landfills are governed separately under Section 111's New Source Performance Standards for MSW landfills, with emission-control requirements on new and modified sites. A rescission of the oil and gas methane rule does not affect those standards directly. Construction and operating permits for landfill gas collection systems in most jurisdictions track the Section 111 program, not the oil and gas rule.

Gas-collection system vendors and flare-system operators read the regulatory direction as a signal of political appetite. A retreat from oil and gas methane enforcement suggests the broader Clean Air Act push against diffuse methane sources is on hold — a factor in capital planning for landfill gas-to-energy projects that depend on federal enforcement pressure to keep capture rates elevated.

What's next

EPA must publish a proposed rescission in the Federal Register. The proposal enters a public comment window, typically 30 to 90 days. A final rescission, if pursued, follows with mandatory review by the White House Office of Management and Budget for rules designated as "significant" under Executive Order 12866.

A full rescission moots pending industry litigation against the original rule. A stay preserves the underlying standard, opening a fresh round of environmental-plaintiff challenges arguing EPA cannot unilaterally suspend a promulgated rule without notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The publication date of the proposed rescission is the trigger event trade-press readers should watch. That filing starts the comment-and-litigation clock and confirms which procedural pathway EPA has chosen.