On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed legislation disapproving the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The Joint...more
After little more than a week in office, there is still plenty of speculation, but priorities of the Trump 2.0 Administration are becoming more concrete. Issuance of three energy-focused Executive Orders (Unleashing American...more
1/30/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Alaska ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
FERC ,
Infrastructure ,
NEPA ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration
The incoming Trump Administration is expected to prioritize the rollback of Biden-era endangered species regulations, aiming to reduce the regulatory burden on land-intensive businesses and enhance energy independence. This...more
1/10/2025
/ Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Wildlife Protection
During the 2024 campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised his supporters that he would direct federal agencies on day one to “immediately remove every single burdensome regulation driving up the cost of goods.” For the...more
12/5/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
COP ,
Deregulation ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
PFAS ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Join us for a program on how to obtain and defend key air quality permits for power plants....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
Last November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a regulatory preamble describing its plans for proposed standards to reduce methane emissions and other air pollutants from affected sources within the...more
11/25/2022
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Methane ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Wells ,
Popular ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has proposed substantial changes to its Risk Management Program (“RMP”) regulations aimed at preventing chemical facility accidents, a move that will affect industrial...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)
Join V&E environmental lawyers Matthew Dobbins, Corinne Snow, and Patrick Traylor as they host a CLE via webcast on the EPA’s new proposed rule for methane from the oil and gas sector, provide an update on air enforcement and...more
Join Vinson & Elkins for our eleventh annual seminar focusing on what you need to know about the most important evolving topics and the changing regulatory environment surrounding unconventional oil and gas...more
9/30/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Hydraulic Fracturing Study ,
Oil & Gas ,
Upstream Contracts ,
Webinars
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 Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently unveiled its new Power Plants and Neighboring Communities mapping tool as part of its commitment to Environmental Justice (“EJ”). The mapping tool displays: the location of...more
The acting head of the EPA’s enforcement office issued a memorandum on June 21, 2021 (the “Memorandum”), that outlines actions to advance the EPA’s environmental justice (“EJ”) goals in criminal enforcement matters....more
With its “all of the above” approach to reducing greenhouse gases, the Biden administration will undoubtedly increase the tempo of EPA enforcement in the upstream and midstream sectors.
This Energy Series discussion is...more
6/4/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Midstream Contracts ,
Oil & Gas ,
Upstream Contracts ,
Webinars
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
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
Each new presidential administration brings with it its own set of policy goals and priorities. While the text of the environmental laws does not change without an act of Congress, agencies within the executive branch have a...more
Each new presidential administration brings with it its own set of policy goals and priorities. While the text of U.S. environmental law does not change without an act of Congress, agencies within the executive branch have a...more
News stories and campaign rhetoric frequently create expectations of immediate shifts following an administration change, but most changes in the federal government happen slowly, and the constraint on resources and time...more
1/20/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Water Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Nationwide Permits (NWPs) ,
Natural Gas Act ,
NEPA ,
Pipelines ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States
Join Vinson & Elkins for our tenth annual seminar discussing timely topics surrounding unconventional oil and gas development.
Our shale and hydraulic fracturing legal team will provide a comprehensive analysis of the...more
10/2/2020
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Fracking ,
Oil & Gas ,
Shale Gas ,
Webinars ,
Workplace Safety
On March 26, 2020, as government officials issued a slew of stay-at-home orders, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an emergency policy memorandum describing how the agency would exercise its enforcement...more
On June 29, 2020, the EPA issued an Addendum to its March 2020 COVID-19 Temporary Enforcement Policy (“Policy”) announcing that the Policy will terminate in its entirety on August 31, 2020. The Addendum also indicates that,...more
As companies navigate the unprecedented effects on business operations and supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, complying with local, state, and federal environmental laws and regulations has presented new...more
6/5/2020
/ Business Operations ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Environmental Liability ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NGOs ,
Risk Mitigation ,
State Agencies ,
Webinars