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Court blocks Trump's 'unlawful' delay of Obama methane leak rule

The Hill: A federal court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration broke the law when it tried this summer to delay an Obama administration rule related to greenhouse gas released through oil and natural gas drilling.

Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the District Court for the Northern District of California said the Interior Department cannot use a provision in the Administrative Procedure Act to delay the rule on methane emissions on federal land, as it tried to do in June.

The ruling represents another bump in the road on the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, in which officials are looking to significantly alter or rescind Obama regulations across different agencies of government.

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