From Climate Extra

Industry Seeks To Block California GHG-Disclosure Laws During Appeal

Industry groups say a federal district court should block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the court’s earlier decision rejecting their request for a preliminary injunction, renewing their argument that implementation will violate their First Amendment rights. “The state’s opposition is based on a false premise: that this motion is a second bite at the preliminary-injunction apple. It is not,” says a Sept. 2 reply brief by the groups in support of their motion for an injunction...

Ramping Up Climate Attacks, Republicans Target ELI’s Training For Judges

Republicans are ramping up pressure on the non-profit Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and its climate science education curriculum for judges, claiming the group secretly seeks to tip the legal scales in favor of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, which they say should disqualify it from receiving any EPA grants. While ELI has rejected the assertion, the GOP’s attacks signal an expanding strategy for countering plaintiffs in climate-related cases by attacking the impartiality of judges ruling in those cases. House Judiciary Committee...

EPA Reg Agenda Sets Ambitious Goals For Rolling Back Climate Rules

The latest federal regulatory agenda is underscoring EPA’s plans to quickly adopt rules that scale back or entirely scuttle numerous climate programs, including the agency’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG rules that the new agenda suggests could be finalized well before the end of the year. The Spring agenda, delayed for months as the Trump administration developed its priorities, sets a goal of finalizing the agency’s high-profile GHG endangerment finding repeal and vehicle GHG rules by September...

House Oversight Panel Launches Inquiry Into NAS Climate Science Review

House oversight committee chairman James Comer (R-KY) is launching an investigation into the National Academies’ plans for quickly reviewing post-2009 climate science in an effort to inform the Trump EPA’s endangerment finding repeal, accusing the institution of “a blatant partisan act” against agency efforts to deregulate greenhouse gases. The move follows an August announcement by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) of an expedited review of climate science in an effort to inform EPA’s proposed recission of...

D.C. Circuit Ruling Opens Door To EPA Reclaiming Billions In GHGRF Funds

A split appellate panel has vacated a lower court ruling that stayed EPA efforts to withdraw around $16 billion in funds that the Biden administration distributed from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF), opening the door to officials seeking to reclaim the funds and forcing the plaintiffs to fight the case in claims court where their remedies are limited. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 in Climate United Fund et...

Automakers Seek ‘Interim’ Rule Easing Near-Term Vehicle GHG Limits

Automakers are pressing EPA for an “interim final rule” or similar quick mechanism to roll back near-term greenhouse gas limits for light- and medium-duty vehicles, seeking “near-term certainty” while the agency pursues its plan to undo its landmark climate risk finding and all vehicle GHG programs. While such an “interim” move would be sure to spark legal challenges, the industry suggestion comes as the Trump administration has pursued similar near-term relief for other sectors, including oil and gas producers. The...

EPA Says High Court Ruling Boosts Jurisdictional Argument In Grant Case

EPA says a recent Supreme Court decision is boosting its jurisdictional argument in a major clean energy grant terminations case, while attorneys assert the decision is underscoring broader challenges for parties litigating against numerous such Trump administration grant terminations. “The Supreme Court has now twice held that district courts likely lack jurisdiction over [Administrative Procedure Act (APA)] challenges to grant terminations,” the Justice Department (DOJ) arguing on behalf of EPA says in an Aug. 28 filing to the U.S. Court...

Critics Target Data Quality, Procedure Flaws In EPA’s GHG Finding Repeal

Former EPA staff, environmentalists and other critics are claiming an array of procedural weaknesses in EPA’s proposed rollback of its greenhouse gas risk finding and related vehicle standards in a bid to stop or slow it, including short comment periods, violations of federal data quality rules, and basic scientific and other methodological errors. The strategy comes as numerous observers say EPA appears to be seeking a Supreme Court battle to undo or narrow the high court’s landmark 2007 affirmation of...

California-Quebec GHG Auction Sells Out Credits At Slightly Higher Prices

The latest quarterly California-Quebec greenhouse gas auction sold all allowances at slightly higher prices than the last sale in May, but environmentalists are renewing concerns that the relatively low prices are caused by ongoing market uncertainty from state lawmakers’ inaction to extend the program beyond 2030. “The impact of market uncertainty is evident when comparing today’s results to this time last year -- the price settled $1.48 lower from the August 2024 auction, which means over $100 million dollars left...

Group Launches New Tool For Linking Methane Releases To Air Toxics

A science-focused environmental group is touting a first-of-a-kind effort to “calculate and visualize” the effects of “methane-linked” hazardous air pollutants and their health risks, offering the latest advocacy efforts to highlight the local health implications from oil and gas sector emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane and other pollutants. The effort, which is relevant to community-level climate and health policy advocates, could also have added significance as the Trump EPA pushes to deregulate industrial polluters in part by downplaying...

Industry Lays Out Arguments Against CARB Challenge To Waiver Repeals

Industry attorneys are laying out arguments to the 9th Circuit for why courts should reject California’s challenge to the approval by Congress and President Donald Trump of Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions that repealed the state’s Clean Air Act preemption waivers to implement several more stringent vehicle emissions rules. The arguments are contained in an Aug. 25 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree), et al. v. EPA...

EPA Warned Of Small Business Act Violation In GHG Vehicle Rule Repeal

A progressive policy advocate is arguing that EPA likely violated the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) by certifying that its proposal to revoke all of the agency’s greenhouse gas vehicle rules, which it is advancing as part of a repeal of EPA’s GHG endangerment finding, would not have major effects on small entities. EPA’s claim “fundamentally misunderstands what is required of the agency under the law,” argued Center for Progressive Reform Policy Director James Goodwin during an Aug. 22 public hearing...

New CARB Draft Rules For GHG-Disclosure Laws Spur More Questions

California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials are providing new details of their regulatory proposals to implement landmark laws requiring large companies to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks -- including how to determine which businesses will be included, reporting deadlines and fee amounts. However, stakeholders are raising a barrage of new questions about the effort, and industry groups are continuing to advance litigation seeking to block implementation of the state laws despite a recent adverse court ruling. “I do...

Zeldin Highlights Effort To Ease End-Use HFC Rule For Cold Storage, Others

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is providing some details about the agency’s forthcoming proposal to ease Biden-era restrictions on climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) for various end uses, suggesting the plan will soften requirements for equipment at grocery stores, semiconductor plants, cold storage warehouses and other sectors. “The [2023] Technology Transitions Rule raises the cost of food at the grocery store, harms semiconductor manufacturing, and restricts Americans from being able to purchase affordable air conditioning systems for their homes,” says an Aug. 21...

EPA Extends Priority Access In HFC Phasedown Program To ‘Critical’ Sectors

EPA is extending priority access to climate-warming hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) allowances for five “critical” sectors, as it continues to implement a broader congressionally mandated phasedown of the chemicals often used in refrigeration, foams, aerosols and other products. “By renewing priority access for five applications, the Trump administration is ensuring that critical health, defense, and technology sectors can continue to operate efficiently and effectively, bolstering human health, national security, and American technology,” EPA says in an Aug. 22 press release announcing a...

California Agency Denies Petition To Find CARB-Truck ‘Partnership’ Illegal

California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) is denying without explanation a trucking group’s petition claiming the state air board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) with truck makers is an illegal regulation, though the agreement remains under attack by manufacturers themselves and the Trump administration. “OAL declines to accept your petition,” states the office’s Aug. 18 response to the Western States Trucking Association (WSTA). “Our decision in no way reflects on the merits of the underlying issue presented by your petition...

Environmentalists Urge D.C. Circuit To Quickly Scrap Methane-Delay Rule

Environmental groups are pressing the D.C. Circuit to quickly scrap EPA’s interim final rule (IFR) delaying oil and gas companies’ compliance deadlines for Biden-era methane rules, filing a motion for summary vacatur that argues the interim measure flouts core Clean Air Act procedural requirements. “EPA’s action substantially delays compliance dates under a final Clean Air Act rule the agency issued in 2024, which provides critical protections against some of the nation’s largest sources of air pollution,” the groups say in...

Trump DOJ Seeks Input On State Laws With Heavy Economic ‘Burden’

The Trump administration is seeking input on state laws that critics believe impose a significant economic harm on interstate commerce, an effort that portends a renewed administration push to target state climate and clean energy policies that federal officials are already challenging in various venues. “Anecdotal evidence and the experience of countless Americans across the country strongly suggest that state laws and regulations can significantly burden commerce in other states and between states, thus raising costs unnecessarily and harming markets...

Critics Blast ‘Egregious’ EPA Proposal To Reverse GHG Risk Finding

Critics of EPA’s proposal to undo its landmark greenhouse gas endangerment finding are offering a barrage of concerns about the plan’s harms and outlining the myriad ways in which they say it violates the law and court rulings -- previewing more detailed comments that groups are developing on the high-profile rulemaking. “In my nearly 50 years of working in this field, through administrations of both parties, this proposal is the most egregious violation of science, law, and EPA’s mission I’ve...

California Floats Actions To Spur ZEV Deployment Amid Trump Pushback

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and other state agencies are outlining a variety of recommendations to spur deployment of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) through incentives and new regulations -- part of the state’s continuing efforts to counter Trump administration moves to squelch the state’s ZEV policies. “The priority recommendations reflected in this document will help guide near-term actions, and help inform legislative efforts to ensure the state stays on track to meet its air quality and climate goals,” said CARB...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Request 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.