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”) published an October 4th Federal Register Notice proposing revisions to the Clean Air Act New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”) for volatile organic liquid (“VOL”)...more
Several environmental organizations filed a document before the United States Environmental Protection Agency styled: Petition to Object to the Title V Operating Permit for the Delaware City Refinery (“Petition”)...more
The American Chemistry Council, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, and Vinyl Institute (collectively “ACC”) submitted July 7th comments to the United States Environmental...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 27, 2023, published its Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, which is intended to update the public about the agency's plan to review, propose and issue regulations over the...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
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published in the June 13th Federal Register a notice that it had entered into a Consent Decree with the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund (collectively...more
The Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund (collectively, “Sierra Club”) filed a December 8th Clean Air Act citizen suit action against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) alleging a failure to...more
The Sierra Club and a number of other environmental organizations sent a September 13th document to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) titled: Petition for Rulemaking to Eliminate Startup,...more
Batteries play a fundamental role in energy storage, and currently nearly 99 million lead acid batteries are manufactured each year. This past Wednesday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule in...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
After years of attempts with varying success to regulate methane emissions from new oil and gas wells, the Biden administration has shifted strategy in proposing a regulatory program covering both new and existing oil and...more
Last week, as world leaders met at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), issued a proposed rule under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) designed...more
On November 2, 2021, the EPA announced a proposed rule aimed at reducing methane emissions from oil and gas sources. The proposed rule is part of the Biden Administration’s U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which...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
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
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
On April 29, 2021, the Senate passed a resolution (the “Resolution”) to disapprove a rule adopted by the Trump administration which lifted certain requirements that had been put in place by an Obama-era methane rule, also...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
The United States Court of Appeals, Eight Circuit (“Eight Circuit”) addressed in a November 22nd Opinion whether a lignite coal mine obtained the correct Clean air Act (“CAA”) permit. See Voigt v. Coyote Creek Mining Company,...more
On August 13, 2020, EPA 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 some of the requirements put in...more
The Environmental Integrity Project and nine other environmental organizations (collectively “EIP”) sent a June 11th letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) styled: Notice of Intent to Sue the...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
Led by the Center for Biological Diversity, a group of 364 environmental and other non-governmental organizations have filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise standards applicable to...more