On April 17, 2024, EPA formalized a new policy requiring greater coordination between its criminal and civil enforcement programs. This change, which comes amidst a substantial jump in civil and criminal enforcement actions, ...more
On April 25, 2024, the EPA announced, as part of a suite of four rules for fossil fuel-fired power plants, its final greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for power plants—imposing stringent new requirements on existing coal-fired...more
On February 7, 2024, EPA released its final rule tightening the annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter (“PM2.5”), from 12 µg/m3 to 9 µg/m3. EPA’s decision to drop the standard to...more
Citing low compliance rates with air quality requirements, the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) has announced it is ramping up compliance assurance and enforcement activities at oil and gas operations within the...more
In its latest move to address climate charge, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) on September 28, 2023 issued a memorandum titled “EPA’s Climate Enforcement and...more
10/20/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
OECA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
In a decision with implications for air permitting across the West, a divided three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded EPA’s approval of Colorado’s state implementation plan (SIP) based...more
In the third attempt in less than 10 years, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed rule package (“Proposal”) that would apply strict greenhouse gas emissions standards to the fossil fuel-fired power sector. The...more
On January 6, 2023, EPA released a pre-publication version of its highly anticipated proposal to strengthen the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter or PM2.5, one of two classes of...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
EPA is poised to publish a final Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for emissions from oil and natural gas sources on Indian country lands within the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservation in northeast Utah. EPA recently released...more
On October 7, 2022, EPA proposed revisions to its permitting regulations under the Fugitive Emissions Rule (FER) that would, for the first time, require all existing major sources that undergo a physical or operational change...more
The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, 597 US ___ (2022), narrowly defined the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from...more
On March 21, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") proposed rules governing the "Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors." ...more
Concurrent with commitments made during the twenty-sixth meeting of the United Nations’ COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden Administration released two significant policies aimed at analyzing and curtailing the...more
12/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill”), a $1.2 trillion commitment of funding for the country’s physical infrastructure. Along with...more
The swearing-in of Michael Regan as EPA Administrator means that open questions on policy, agenda-setting, and prioritization for the Agency will soon be answered. Issues that have risen to the top of the new EPA...more
3/30/2021
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coal ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NAAQS ,
NEPA ,
OMB ,
PFAS ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Risk Management ,
Safe Drinking Water Act ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Waters of the United States
Right out of the box, the Biden Administration took a decisive stance on the importance of climate costs in agency decision making, returning to Obama-era metrics and values. On his first day in office, President Biden issued...more
3/23/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
NEPA ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Working Groups
On February 5, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding its Audit Policy Program, signaling that the Biden Administration will continue to support...more
On July 27, 2020, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Region 8 of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (collectively, the “Parties”) entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) related to self-audits...more
On April 14, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to retain the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter, including both the PM10 and PM2.5 standards. The PM10 and...more
On March 26, 2020 EPA issued a temporary policy for enforcement of environmental legal obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy provides the framework for the agency's use of its enforcement discretion where...more