BLM Waste Prevention Rule
The Department of the Interior moved forward and published the final revisions to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) highly politicized Waste Prevention Rule. The rule, which was first published in 2016, has been highly contested in the courts specifically regarding the Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) requirements which were included in the original rule. The finalized revisions (published on September 18, 2018) removed the LDAR provisions and a significant number of other environmental portions from the rule. Not surprisingly, immediately upon publication the BLM’s revisions were challenged in court. The results of these efforts are yet to be seen, but as it stands the current rule is set to go into effect on November 27, 2018.