The Environmental Protection Agency delayed implementing a Biden administration rule meant to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas facilities as it works to roll back the rule.

The EPA quietly issued an interim final rule on Monday to extend the compliance deadline for methane emission standards affecting oil and gas operators, first reported by the Hill. The delay comes as the Trump administration has taken steps to support and boost the fossil fuel industry while impeding the clean energy sector.

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The rule was finalized by the Biden administration in 2023. Specifically, it requires operators to use technology to detect and control methane leaks from well sites. Oil and gas drillers also have two years to stop routine flaring, the practice of burning large amounts of gas produced by new wells.

However, the interim final rule grants oil and gas operators 18 months to install the required pollution controls.

“EPA is providing more realistic timelines for owners and operators of new and modified oil and natural gas sources across the country,” the agency said. “In addition, the agency is giving states additional time to submit plans under the 2024 Emissions Guidelines to limit methane emissions from hundreds of thousands of existing oil and natural gas sources across the country.”

The methane emission standard is part of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s sweeping deregulatory agenda. In March, the agency announced 31 actions to undo climate-related rules, which Zeldin described as the “greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.”

“Oil and gas standards promulgated by EPA must be rooted in the rule of law, not be used as a weapon to shut down development and manufacturing in the United States,” Zeldin said about repealing the regulation in March.

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“EPA is reconsidering these regulations to ensure they do not prevent America from unleashing energy dominance and continuing our trajectory as a leader in clean energy and emissions reductions,” Zeldin added. “We produce energy better and cleaner than so many other countries around the world, and yet Americans are punished at the end of the day by ideologically driven regulations.”

The interim final rule also comes as the EPA announced this week an overhaul of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which declares that greenhouse gas emissions produced by cars and trucks pose a threat to public health and welfare.