Environmental Defense Fund is challenging the Trump EPA over its plan to water down a Biden-era standard mean to reduce climate pollution from oil and gas.

The petition for review filed Monday in federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., opposes the administration’s April 9 final rule to allow more flaring of natural gas. Operators often use flares to burn away natural gas that flows up alongside more valuable crude oil in petroleum-producing regions, especially when there are no natural gas pipelines nearby.

However, flaring wastes natural gas and releases climate-warming greenhouse gas pollution, along with health-harming “criteria” air pollutants that form smog and soot. The Biden-era methane standards adopted in 2024 required operators to use technology to avoid unnecessary flaring, giving them two years to prepare to comply, according to EDF.

“The 2024 methane standards for the oil and gas sector are common sense protections against dangerous air pollution,” said Rosalie Winn, EDF’s senior director and lead counsel for methane and clean air policy. “The Trump EPA’s illegal weakening of these vital standards undermines efforts to keep our air clean, help keep people safe, and prevent the needless waste of American energy.”

The Trump Administration had previously delayed and stopped enforcing those methane standards. In December, EDF and a dozen other environmental and community groups had in December filed a separate lawsuit challenging that delay.