The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new standards on November 22, 2024, to significantly tighten nitrogen oxides’ (NOx) emission limits from fossil fuel-fired stationary combustion turbines. These proposed...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final rule on Dec. 2, 2023, to sharply reduce emissions of methane and other air pollution from oil and natural gas operations. The final action, which is more than...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
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
Yesterday evening, President Biden signed Congress’s resolution to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reject a September 2020 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that rescinded methane emission standards...more
As discussed in this previous post, EPA recently 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...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
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has issued an important decision that narrowly interprets the types of governmental decisions that may be challenged in court as “final agency action.” In California Communities...more
Oilfield operators of every size have been busy implementing the Obama Administration’s labor-intensive requirements to detect and repair vapor leaks from well site equipment, often called the Quad Oa requirements, in...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) maintains a compendium of written responses to certain Clean air Act inquiries from owners or operators of sources. This compendium is known as an Applicability...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator E. Scott Pruitt issued a March 13th guidance memorandum titled: Project Emissions Accounting Under the New Source Review Preconstruction Permitting...more
A policy memorandum issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) during December 2017 clarifies how the agency will apply and enforce certain facets of the New Source Review regulations following a pair of...more
Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to issue New Source Performance Standards (NSPSs) for certain source categories of air pollutants. These NSPSs set threshold limits on emissions of certain pollutants...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently released two rules updating the regulation of air emissions from landfills. These rules enlarge the potential universe of landfills required to implement...more
Pennsylvania is currently a hotbed of regulatory initiatives focused on the oil and gas industry. The Environmental Quality Board, for example, will decide on February 3 whether to adopt the Department of Environmental...more
Soon the Environmental Protection Agency will propose greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations for the oil and gas industry sector. The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has begun formal review of an EPA proposal to cut...more
On November 22, industry groups filed in the D.C. Circuit five petitions for review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final amendments to new source performance standards (NSPS) governing the oil and natural gas...more
It seems that new developments are always on the horizon in the world of the Clean Air Act and oil and gas development. Just over a year ago, on April 17, 2012, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”)...more