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Trump Administration's Roll Back of Methane Regulations Shows 'Profound Ignorance of Climate Change and State of Methane Monitoring Technology'
WASHINGTON
The Trump administration announced today a plan to do away with the regulation of methane emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will aim to eliminate federal requirements for oil and gas companies to install technology to inspect for and fix methane leaks from wells, pipelines, and storage facilities. The proposed rule is especially surprising as several big energy companies, including Shell and ExxonMobil, have supported regulating the potent greenhouse gas and have criticized the Trump administration for wanting to weaken methane rules.
Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, made the following statement:
"The Trump administration's proposal to erase methane monitoring requirements for oil and gas companies demonstrates a profound ignorance of climate change and the state of methane monitoring technology today. Cost-effective, practical technology exists to control methane, a potent greenhouse gas. To take this regulatory step backwards defies logic and increases risk to industry, environment, and investor portfolios.
"A fundamental tenet of business is that what is not monitored is not measured; and what is not measured is not addressed. Going back to the dark ages on methane monitoring reflects the EPA's disregard for its duty to protect against climate catastrophe."
Lila Holzman, energy program manager of As You Sow, made the following statement:
"Many companies in the oil and gas and utility sectors claim that natural gas will play a role in a low-carbon future. If no effort is made to achieve low-hanging fruit methane reductions, claims that natural gas is a 'bridge fuel' are empty. As investors, we expect to see our companies publicly denounce this proposal and the increased risk it presents to the entire industry, not to mention the planet. Concerns reflected in today's investor statement representing $5.5 trillion in assets under management underscore the severity of this issue."
Since 2017, As You Sow has filed more than 10 shareholder resolutions regarding methane emissions: Exxon, Chevron, WGL, Southern Company, Sempra, Dominion, DTE Energy, Exelon, UGI, Atmos, and Spire.
For more information on As You Sow's work on methane, click here.
As You Sow is the nation's non-profit leader in shareholder advocacy. Founded in 1992, we harness shareholder power to create lasting change that benefits people, planet, and profit. Our mission is to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies.
LATEST NEWS
Supreme Court Observers See Trump Birthright Citizenship Order on Thin Ice After Skeptical Reception
The majority of Supreme Court justices expressed "profound skepticism toward the government’s revisionist history of the 14th Amendment, with most sounding downright hostile," wrote one legal reporter.
Apr 01, 2026
Some legal experts who listened to oral arguments at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday came away with the impression that a majority of justices were skeptical of President Donald Trump's executive order that unilaterally reinterprets the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
During the hearing, many observers noted that some conservative justices—including John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett—all asked pointed questions of US Solicitor General John Sauer, who was presenting the case in defense of the Trump executive order that declared an end to birthright citizenship in the country, despite more than a century of legal precedent.
After listening to the arguments, Georgetown University Law Center professor Steve Vladeck predicted that the final verdict would be "7-2 to block the executive order," and maybe even an 8-1 vote.
"This wasn't (and won't be) close," said Vladeck.
Cornell Law School professor Michael C. Dorf shared Vladeck's view that a clear majority of the court would likely vote to strike down the Trump order, but he cautioned that it could give the court cover to issue less extreme rulings that would nonetheless erode Americans' rights.
"Don't get me wrong: I'm relieved that this case is shaping up as either 8-1 or 7-2 against the Trump executive order," Dorf explained. "But the case is a gift to the Supreme Court. By rejecting an outlandish position, it will earn credibility as apolitical, even as the Overton window moves far to the right."
Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation, said after watching the hearings that he simply could not imagine a majority of the court ruling in Trump's favor.
"What I don't think is a possibility is 5-4 Trump wins," he wrote. "We have [Amy Coney Barrett]. We have Roberts. We almost certainly have Gorsuch (possibly as a concurrence). I CANNOT count to five on a Trump win here. So... good. I mean, terrible that it's gotten his far. But good."
Author and former CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin wasn't ready to make a full prediction on the outcome of the case, but he did note that "the birthright citizenship argument is going poorly for the Trump Administration."
Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern found that the Supreme Court hearing "quickly shaped up to be a blowout against the administration," with seven justices expressing "profound skepticism toward the government’s revisionist history of the 14th Amendment, with most sounding downright hostile toward the pseudo-originalist theory cooked up to legitimize the policy."
In fact, Stern thought that the administration's arguments before the court were so unconvincing that he found it "alarming" that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito appeared convinced by its rationales.
All the same, he predicted that Trump's birthright citizenship order "is about to go down in flames."
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Leading in Primary by 38 Points, Platner Takes Aim at Collins' Wall Street Cash and Iran War Support
"We need to defeat Susan Collins," said the Senate candidate. "That work can’t wait until June."
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As Maine's US Senate primary draws near, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has gone negative—focusing on online posts that her rival, political newcomer Graham Platner, wrote more than a decade ago.
But with poll after poll showing Platner beating the governor by double digits—and with the gap getting larger with each attack ad Mills releases—Platner this week turned his attention away from the primary race altogether, releasing an ad focusing on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whom the Democrats are hoping to unseat next November.
In a one-minute ad released online Tuesday evening, Platner is seen in black and white at one of the many rallies he's held across Maine since launching his campaign last August, where he's spoken in support of Medicare for All, condemned President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign and war in Iran, and spoken out against oligarchy.
Collins, Platner tells the audience in the ad, "is the epitome of the establishment politician who serves the donors and serves herself, who is cynical and duplicitous, who's willing to say one thing and do another."
"We had to shed her from our politics. Quite frankly, we have to shed all the people like her," Platner continues as a musician plays the labor movement anthem, "Which Side Are You On?"
We need to defeat Susan Collins. That work can’t wait until June. So we plan to make clear to Mainers starting today: Susan Collins is not on our side.
Every dollar you donate to the ActBlue link in the reply will go directly behind this ad, to taking back this Senate seat. pic.twitter.com/djyuwSHfiI
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) March 31, 2026
While Platner addresses the crowd, text appears on screen:
"Collins raked in Wall Street cash before advancing Trump tax bill," it reads at one point, referring to the $2 million donation Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman gave to the senator's super political action committee (PAC) one day before she voted to advance President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contained tax cuts for the rich as it slashed public programs like Medicaid and federal food assistance.
"Collins accepts thousands from insurers while health costs soar," the text continues, citing a Maine Beacon article about $120,000 in campaign donations from PACs associated with for-profit health insurance companies—"the same companies now raising premiums on Mainers by as much as 23% in 2026."
"Collins expresses support for Trump's war in Iran," the text reads at another point, regarding the senator's comment last month that Trump has "inherent abilities as commander-in-chief to react" to what he claimed was a threat posed by Iran when he began attacking the country along with Israel.
A poll released by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last week showed nearly 6-in-10 Americans say the war has gone too far. Fifty-six percent of respondents to a Data for Progress survey last month said the war would benefit Israel more than the US, and this week two polls found a majority of Jewish Americans oppose the war.
"We need to defeat Susan Collins. That work can’t wait until June," said Platner on Tuesday, referring to the June 9 primary. "So we plan to make clear to Mainers starting today: Susan Collins is not on our side."
The ad was released as the latest polling from Impact Research found 66% of likely Democratic primary voters backing Platner, with just 28% supporting the governor.
That poll bolsters other recent surveys that have found Platner with a commanding lead, including at least one other that was taken after Mills launched her first negative ad against her opponent. A second ad was released days later, focusing on the same subject matter: comments Platner made on Reddit in 2013 about sexual assault survivors, which the candidate has said don't represent his current views.
"Janet Mills going negative backfired," said Ryan Grim of Drop Site News, "which doesn’t bode well for Collins either."
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‘Alarming, Unacceptable’: Trump’s Iran War Has Unleashed an Attack on Healthcare Every Six Hours
"We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted," said one humanitarian group.
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The US-Israeli war on Iran and the resulting regional conflict have unleashed a wave of deadly attacks on healthcare workers and infrastructure across the Middle East, from paramedics in southern Lebanon to medical facilities and ambulances in Tehran.
The international humanitarian group Save the Children estimated on Tuesday that, since the US and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28, the Middle East has seen an average of one attack on healthcare every six hours. Overall, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded at least 120 attacks on healthcare since the start of the Iran war—86 in Lebanon, 28 in Iran, and six in Israel.
The head of the WHO said nine paramedics were killed in five separate Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon this past weekend.
"We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted," Nora Ingdal, country director at Save the Children Lebanon, said Tuesday. "Governments have long championed international humanitarian law that protects aid and health workers, and now is the time to act to prevent continued harm in Lebanon and across the wider region."
Iranian officials have said that dozens of hospitals and other healthcare facilities are among the tens of thousands of civilian buildings damaged or destroyed by US-Israeli bombing over the past month, along with dozens of ambulances. Iran's Emergency Medical Services Organization said Tuesday that at least 24 of the nation's healthcare workers have been killed by US-Israeli attacks since late February.
In southern Lebanon, the Israeli assault has been devastating for the country's healthcare system and workers. According to Save the Children, at least 55 of the country's health facilities have been forced to close due to airstrikes and forced displacement orders from the Israeli government.
MedGlobal said Wednesday that Lebanon's "already fragile health system is buckling under relentless pressure" of "systematic and severe" attacks, which the group emphasized are violations of international law.
"Attacks on healthcare workers are not collateral damage. They are alarming, unacceptable violations of international law,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal. “The international community cannot remain silent while Lebanon’s health system is targeted and dismantled—just at the moment when it is needed more than ever to save lives and help the vast numbers of internally displaced people."
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