"While our country pursues energy development, we shouldn't put communities at risk in the process. This rollback may have lifted a burden on businesses, but really it just shifted that burden onto the communities that are now faced with the fallout.

"The BLM rule would have helped fight the release of harmful pollutants into the air, which has a greater impact on Latino communities, according to the National Hispanic Medical Association and Clean Air Task Force, as they face elevated risks due to toxic emissions. Additionally, this rule would have helped ensure that lost revenue would be put to work in our neighborhoods in the form of improved infrastructure or funding for schools.

"The rule was developed with the input from tens of thousands of Americans around the country through community hearings, letters, and meetings, and received tremendous public support evidenced by numerous polls. Earlier this year the 2018 Colorado College State of Rockies poll conducted by leading pollsters from the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies and the Democratic firm FM3 Research found that 7-in-10 western voters support methane waste requirements on federal lands. During the public commenting period in May, more than 600,000 people voiced their support for the rule.

"We have a moral obligation to protect our cherished outdoor heritage, clean up our air, and ensure that our communities and children are protected from human-caused public health issues that we can knowingly prevent. This rule would have done that."

In 2014, NASA announced that they had found a methane "hot-spot" the size of Delaware hovering over the four corners region - where the boundaries of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado all meet. NASA also determined that methane waste from oil and gas operations are major contributors to the methane plume, that only 10 percent of the methane sources contribute half of all emissions and that leaking storage tanks and pipelines are major culprits of emissions.