(January 19, 2017, 1:57 PM EST) -- CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming on Jan. 16 denied a preliminary injunction sought by two states seeking to prohibit implementation of a new federal rule on venting and flaring oil and gas produced from hydraulic fracturing, concluding that Congress has “vested” the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with the authority to prescribe rules for the prevention of undue waste of mineral resources (State of Wyoming, et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, et al., No. 16-285 and Western Energy Alliance, et al. v. Sally Jewell, et al., No. 16-280, D. Wyo.; 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5736)....