President Donald Trump was set to announce an EPA proposal easing Biden-era methane rules at a Texas campaign rally, framing the move as a way to produce more energy and lower fuel prices a week before the midterm elections.
President Donald Trump was set to use a campaign swing through Texas on Tuesday to announce a plan to ease methane rules for oil and gas producers, a White House official said, according to Reuters. The announcement was planned for a rally in Lubbock for Senate candidate Ken Paxton, one week before the midterm elections, as the administration sought to show voters it was working to bring down gasoline prices.
The proposal would roll back Biden-era rules that required companies to fix leaky equipment and regularly check wells for escaping methane. According to the White House official, it would give relief to small, low-output wells, end a program that used outside groups to report large methane leaks, and ease rules aimed at phasing out the routine burning off of gas at oil wells. The administration cast the changes as a way to produce more energy and lower costs for consumers.
The Texas trip was Trump's third visit to the state this month to mobilize support for Paxton, who is locked in a close race with Democrat James Talarico. Reuters reported that a Paxton loss next Tuesday would complicate the Republican Party's path to retaining its slim Senate majority, and linked the energy push to fuel prices becoming a political liability for Republicans amid the war with Iran. Rallies were planned in Corpus Christi and Lubbock.
The announcement itself rests on the White House official's account as reported by Reuters, and no rule text had been released, so the precise regulatory language could not be checked against a document. The published daily schedule for the trip lists remarks in Corpus Christi and Lubbock that day, matching the planned announcement setting, and a second outlet's summary of the plan matches Reuters on the core elements.
If the proposal is finalized, it would lower the compliance burden for producers, above all smaller operators, while leaving more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, escaping from wells and equipment. The measure would still have to survive the rulemaking process and any court challenges, and a future administration could reverse it. Voters will decide the Paxton-Talarico race on November 3, giving the announcement its immediate political test.