On November 12, 2024, the Biden administration announced a final rule to reduce methane emissions from high-emitting oil and gas producers. Enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act (the “Act”), EPA will now collect Waste...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued an Enforcement Alert (“EA”) titled: EPA Finds MSW Landfills are Violating Monitoring and Maintenance Requirements....more
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue a rule updating its Clean Air Act emission standards for new and existing municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills to cut methane and other harmful landfill gas emissions....more
On July 9, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) declined to stay a new Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rule that seeks to limit methane emissions in the oil...more
The Biden-Harris Administration recently issued a suite of new rules aimed at addressing water and air quality, reducing methane emissions, protecting environmental justice communities, and accelerating the nation’s...more
On May 14, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule requirements for petroleum and natural gas systems under 40 C.F.R. Part 98, Subpart W in the Federal Register....more
Oil and gas companies will soon be required to pay annual fees to the federal government based on their methane emissions. These fees, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expects will exceed $2 billion over the...more
A stream of judicial decisions in the pipeline will have important implications for the energy industry. The three cases discussed below are among those that energy litigators and industry professionals are watching in 2024....more
Key Takeaways - • What Is Happening? On January 12, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed rule to implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Methane Waste Emissions Charge (WEC)....more
We wrote an overview of the methane tax after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law in August 2022 and Congress directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose the first-ever direct tax on methane...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") has proposed regulations for calculating methane emissions fees required beginning this year under the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA"). Section 136 of the Clean Air Act (added...more
On December 2, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a Final Rule under the Clean Air Act that will sharply reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The rule applies to sources involved...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a December 12th news release indicating it had entered into a Consent Agreement with Hamm Inc. (“HI”) addressing alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. ...more
The Situation: The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") finalized regulations designed to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 80% in coming years at both new and existing facilities. The regulations...more
Fourteen environmental organizations submitted a June 22nd Petition to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) asking that it strengthen the Clean Air Act Section 111 New Source Performance Standards...more
A group of 19 AGs co-signed a comment letter supporting an EPA supplemental proposal to strengthen emissions regulations for facilities in the oil and natural gas sector. The proposal contains the first EPA emission...more
The USEPA often refers to its relationship with the states as “cooperative federalism.” The recently proposed regulations for the control of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry contain some unique provisions that...more
Part I of this three-part methane update discussed the state of substantive methane regulation in the United States and touched on the Inflation Reduction Act’s (“IRA” or “the Act”) addition of Section 136 to the Clean Air...more
EPA released a supplemental proposed rule to its already sweeping proposed methane rule with major EJ impacts. In a first for the Clean Air Act, under the proposed rule, where a designated facility would qualify for a less...more
This article is the second in a two-part series analyzing recent proposals by federal agencies to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas production. The first article addresses the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM)...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its most recent proposal for controlling greenhouse gas emissions produced by the oil and gas industry earlier this month....more
The recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contains several new provisions related to methane emissions impacting oil and gas companies, including upstream and midstream. Companies who already report emissions to the...more
What’s Next in the Regulation of Methane Emissions? Previously in our sessions, I have discussed carbon dioxide and what policymakers should do about it. Last month I explained it in full in a speech to the Independent...more
The Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a January 28th Order granting a Petition objecting to the issuance of a Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit (“Permit”) for the ETC Waha...more
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