New York and several states from New England have filed a lawsuit against the EPA and its administrator, Scott Pruitt, for not doing enough to combat methane pollution.
Fourteen states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island, have joined New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against the agency.
Schneiderman says the EPA is violating the Clean Air Act by unreasonably delaying its obligation to control methane pollution from the oil and gas industry.
Over time, methane is a bigger contributor to climate change than carbon dioxide.
While the EPA had made an effort to study methane pollution in 2016, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt ended research into it after he was appointed last year.
The City of Chicago and the District of Columbia have also joined the suit.