U.S. Senate misstep will cost jobs and slow energy production

The Senate just failed to roll back an Obama-era regulation that will discourage energy production, cost millions of dollars and kill thousands of American jobs.

The rule, issued in the eleventh hour of the Obama presidency by the Bureau of Land Management, was designed to limit already decreasing methane emissions from oil and natural gas wells on federal lands. The Republican-led Senate was expected to kill the regulation before it had a chance to take effect. But instead, three Republicans broke with their party to keep the rule in place.

That move was shocking. The environmental impact of...