The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final rule (the “Rule”) that substantially expands its Risk Management Program (“RMP”) regulations aimed at preventing chemical accidents. The Rule takes effect on...more
Environmental Justice (“EJ”) continued to prove a major focus of the Biden administration in 2022. With wide-ranging initiatives across several federal agencies, the administration worked to strengthen enforcement, release...more
2/2/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
FERC ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Title VI
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has announced its latest priority for Clean Air Act enforcement: stationary engines. In an enforcement alert, EPA states that it has been finding numerous violations of Clean...more
9/12/2022
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fines ,
National Emissions Standards ,
NESHAP ,
Pollution Control ,
Reporting Requirements
EPA has received more than 300,000 comments on its November 2021 proposal to regulate methane from new and existing sources in the oil and gas production sector. We previously wrote about EPA’s proposal. Now we’ve analyzed a...more
On November 15, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a proposed rule that included three separate actions under the Clean Air Act that target new and existing air emission sources at oil and natural gas...more
The first action proposes first-time emission guidelines to reduce methane emissions from almost 1 million existing oil and gas wells, almost 2,000 existing interstate natural gas compressor stations, and over 500 existing...more
11/5/2021
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Infrastructure ,
Methane ,
Natural Gas ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Storage Tanks ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
In the upcoming weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is expected to release a proposed rule that would greatly expand methane regulations for the oil and gas sector. While EPA has previously issued regulations...more
9/27/2021
/ Clean Air Act ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Natural Gas ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has announced its newest target for Clean Air Act enforcement: metal recycling facilities. In an enforcement alert issued in July 2021, EPA states that it has identified...more
On June 30, 2021, President Biden signed into law a joint resolution of Congress repealing a Trump administration rule that removed methane as a pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act in the oil and gas industry...more
While much of recent federal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) regulatory activity has focused on water supply and soil contamination of PFAS compounds, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) ongoing...more
As discussed in this previous post, the state of methane regulation for the oil and gas industry has been in flux over the past few years as federal regulations issued by the Obama administration were challenged in court and...more
4/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Methane ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Trump Administration ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
While the texts of environmental laws do not change without an act of Congress, executive branch agencies that enforce those laws have a great deal of discretion in what kinds of violations to prioritize for investigation and...more
1/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Natural Resources ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
OECA ,
OIRA ,
Performance Standards ,
Renewable Energy ,
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy
As discussed in these two previous posts, EPA recently released two rules changing the volatile organic compound (“VOC”) and methane emissions requirements for new sources in the oil and gas sector, which alter or roll back...more
Last week, the EPA announced two significant settlements for violations of the Clean Air Act relating to emissions of volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) from upstream oil and gas production facilities. These enforcement...more
1/30/2020
/ Air Pollution ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Consent Order ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Storage ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Injunctive Relief ,
NAAQS ,
National Emissions Standards ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State Implementation Plans (SIPs) ,
Vapor Intrusion ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)