Today, the European Commission published the document “Questions and answers on importer requirements of EU Methane Regulation (EU) 2024/1787” (the “Methane Q&A”). In short, the Methane Q&A is an attempt, but an insufficient...more
On 15 July 2024, “Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/942” (the “EU Methane...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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday finalized tougher methane reporting standards that could increase the number of oil and gas companies that must pay fees for excess methane emissions....more
The Biden administration issued a final rule this Wednesday aimed at curbing methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on federal and tribal lands. Adoption of the rule is its latest action to crack down on emissions of...more
A new report by the International Energy Agency, released on March 13, found that for the third year in a row, methane released by the fossil fuel industry rose to an almost record high in 2023. Methane emissions are a...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 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a proposed rule to assess and collect billions of dollars in methane “waste emission charges” from the oil and gas sector....more
In a new study, researchers from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Defend Our Health have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system. In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors, a...more
The power to enforce a rule intended to slash air pollution associated with warehouses could one day rest in the hands of citizens who are willing to go to federal court. Several Inland members of Congress recently signed a...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 floats sharply increased social cost of carbon - E&E News – November 21 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new estimate for the social cost of carbon emissions, nearly quadrupling an interim...more
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
Extensive negotiations focused on finalizing the details of a “rulebook” for an international carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The 27th annual Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations...more
Alliteration aside, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have already raised the global temperature, and in turn, begun to wreak havoc on the world. Some of this damage—such as droughts, wildfires, and rising sea levels—are easily...more
The Global Methane Pledge (GMP) was one of the few headline commitments announced at COP26. The response to the GMP indicates that tackling methane emissions is now firmly on the agenda for the petroleum industry... ...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
On Friday morning, November 19th, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, on a party-line vote of 220 – 213, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to vote against the bill. The...more
On August 31, 2021, a federal district court in Missouri v. Biden, 4:21-cv-00287, 2021 WL 3885590 (E.D. Mo. 2021), dismissed a suit brought by the State of Missouri and 12 other states, challenging President Biden's Executive...more
Historically, environmental issues have been front and center for major project development throughout the world. But for projects in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) increased focus on the...more
I previously wrote an ACOEL blog post that pointed out the relationship between meat agriculture and global warming. I will start with the personal fact that my wife, the poet Margo Taft Stever, and I became vegetarians many...more
Many stakeholders have called for the United States to adopt a carbon tax. Such a tax could raise billions of dollars in annual revenue while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Several carbon tax proposals were...more
The Carbon Quarterly is a newsletter covering developments in carbon policy, law, and innovation. No matter your views on climate change policy, there is no avoiding an increasing focus on carbon regulation, resiliency...more
The social cost of carbon (SCC) has a checkered regulatory history spanning nearly 40 years, but it now has been thrust back onto the federal stage, front and center. Among President Joe Biden's first acts in office was a...more
Among the important provisions of President Biden’s Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis is the requirement to review and revise estimates of the...more