Climate Policy Watch

This page is designed to keep you updated on the latest national policies to reduce greenhouse gases, drawing from all the Inside EPA family of publications and allowing you access to all this coverage regardless of your site-license restrictions.

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This page is designed to keep you updated on the latest national policies to reduce greenhouse gases, drawing from all the Inside EPA family of publications and allowing you access to all this coverage regardless of your site-license restrictions.

Opponents Of Keystone NWP 12 Urge 9th Circuit To Uphold Permit Vacatur

Environmentalists and 12 states are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a district court’s ruling that vacated use of a Clean Water Act (CWA) general permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, backing the ruling’s finding that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to follow Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements when issuing the permit. The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in its decision correctly found “resounding evidence” that the Corps’ issuance of nationwide permit (NWP) 12 may...

States, Local Governments Back Baltimore In High Court Climate Lawsuit

Major groups representing local governments and state lawmakers are backing Baltimore’s effort to hold oil and gas giants accountable for damages from their products’ greenhouse gas emissions, supporting the city in the Supreme Court’s review of the key issue of whether the city’s suit is heard in state or federal court. A Dec. 23 amicus brief from the National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National Council of State Legislatures, U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Council of State...

Omnibus Law Phasing Down HFCs Expected To Drive Safer Alternatives

The omnibus spending law President Donald Trump enacted Dec. 27 includes language directing EPA to sharply curtail the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), the class of chemicals used for refrigeration and other purposes, a policy that backers believe will drive safer alternatives that have a lower global warming potential (GWP). “This effort will help drive the transition to innovative alternatives to HFCs -- including next-generation refrigerants, foam-blowing agents, aerosols and solvents that are safer for the environment -- while...

DOJ Details California-Quebec GHG Link Appeal, But Biden May Exit Case

The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) is detailing its claims in an appeal over whether California’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program link to Quebec violates the Constitution, though sources say they expect the incoming Biden administration to withdraw the challenge in the coming months. President-elect Joe Biden is pushing an aggressive climate agenda and has supported states’ efforts to advance major climate programs such as cap-and-trade. Nonetheless, DOJ attorneys argue that California’s program linking to Quebec “transcends any traditional state responsibility,...

Final EPA Aircraft GHG Rule Lacks Mandate For Additional Emissions Cuts

EPA has finalized first-time greenhouse gas limits for aircraft engines that lock in place emissions reductions that the industry will achieve anyway without additional control measures but fail to include any mandate for deeper GHG cuts sought by environmentalists and some mainly Democratic-led states, teeing up a likely legal challenge. The final aircraft GHG rule , released Dec. 28 ahead of its future publication in the Federal Register , could potentially also face reconsideration and tightening by the incoming Biden...

Final Rule

EPA Response To Comments On Proposed Rule


Nuclear Provisions Of Omnibus Deal Leave Room For Renewed Fights

The sweeping bipartisan omnibus spending bill approved by Congress this week includes provisions promoting advanced nuclear reactors while leaving the door open for a renewed fight among Democrats next year on additional measures for expanded nuclear power as a climate change solution. The $2.3 trillion package approved Dec. 21 contains a $1.4 trillion fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill and $900 billion for coronavirus relief, as well as a range of authorizing provisions including a Title II on nuclear energy...

With Mallory At CEQ Helm, White House Expected To Undo NEPA Rollbacks

President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Brenda Mallory to lead his White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is being widely hailed as a smart choice by environmental groups and others, especially given CEQ’s expected key role in undoing the Trump administration’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rollbacks. In addition, observers expect Mallory to be influential in elevating both climate change and environmental justice (EJ) considerations in NEPA reviews for projects across the government. Ted Boling, a longtime CEQ career official...

Trump Vetoes Defense Policy Bill With Key Climate, Toxics Provisions

President Donald Trump has vetoed the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill that includes several environment provisions concerning the Defense Department’s (DOD) cleanup of toxic substances and climate change adaptation. Trump in his Dec. 23 veto message reiterated a series of criticisms of the bill, including that it fails to limit liability protections for social media companies and forces DOD to remove the names of former Confederate leaders from military installations. He argues social media’s current liability shield “facilitates the...

OMB schedules stakeholder meetings on EPA coal plant NSPS rewrite

The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has scheduled meetings through early January with outside groups seeking to weigh in on EPA’s draft final revisions to Obama-era greenhouse gas rules for new coal plants, suggesting the Trump administration is hoping to complete the rule before the end of its term. EPA sent the long-delayed draft final rule to OMB on Dec. 11 , and it is now meeting with outside groups to get their input on the measure...

Omnibus Deal Offers Biden Initial Climate Wins But Omits Broad Authority

The broad year-end spending and policy deal Congress approved this week includes provisions that Democrats say are significant advances in cutting carbon emissions and promoting clean energy, though it falls short of comprehensive climate mitigation authority that may remain elusive for the incoming Biden administration. The status of the omnibus bill, however, has been thrown into doubt by President Donald Trump’s Dec. 22 criticism of the coronavirus relief payments in the massive legislative package, hinting at a possible veto. Congress...

CARB Eyes Possible ‘Near-Term’ Emission Cuts In Mobile Source Strategy

California air officials are exploring measures to achieve near-term nitrogen oxide (NOx) and other pollution cuts from on- and off-road vehicles as part of their sweeping 2020 Mobile Source Strategy (MSS), but the effort may not satisfy the natural gas vehicle and emission-control industries that criticize the draft plan as focused almost exclusively on electric vehicles (EVs). “This is not about favoring one technology over another. It’s about trying to focus on where we’re headed and not to get distracted...

Trump threatens to upend FY21 omnibus deal

President Donald Trump is hinting that he might not sign the sprawling year-end fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill with a slight funding boost for EPA, as well as a major coronavirus relief package and multiple policy provisions including several climate- and energy-related measures. In a video released late Dec. 22 , Trump urged Congress to increase the “ridiculously low” $600 stimulus checks in the coronavirus relief portion of the package to $2,000 per person and outlined a list of provisions...

Ewire: McConnell vows votes on Biden’s Cabinet but hurdles increase

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is pledging to schedule floor votes for President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees if Republicans maintain control of the Senate next year, although some GOP senators are creating hurdles for the selections by expressing early opposition to some of Biden’s environment picks. The nominees “aren’t all going to pass on a voice vote, and they aren’t all going to make it, but I will put them on the floor,” said McConnell, according to a column...

Biden’s Deep Climate Bench Prompts Questions Over White House Role

President-elect Joe Biden’s appointment of several officials with significant climate change experience is prompting questions about how he will divide responsibility among the team, with many observers suggesting incoming White House domestic climate policy “czar” Gina McCarthy will assume a leadership role. Multiple sources expect McCarthy to take that position in part because she shepherded multiple major climate rules as EPA chief during the second term of the Obama administration. However, EPA will likely be tasked with issuing key greenhouse...

Two states, environmentalists appeal vacatur of BLM methane air rule

Two Democratic-led states and more than a dozen environmental groups are appealing a district court ruling that vacated the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Obama-era “waste prevention” rule aimed at reducing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas facilities on public lands. In separate Dec. 21 notices to the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, attorneys general for California and New Mexico, as well as a 16-member environmental group coalition say they are appealing...

EPA boosts civil penalties to account for inflation

EPA will publish a final rule in the Dec. 23 Federal Register increasing the civil penalties it will assess for environmental law violations after Jan. 13, with the amounts increasing by about 1 percent to account for inflation. The prepublication notice says penalties will increase by 1.01 percent, rounded to the nearest dollar, to include the cost-of-living adjustment multiplier for 2020. That percentage increase was calculated by the year-over-year difference in the consumer price index for all urban consumers...

CPUC Approves Utilities’ RNG Tariff Amid Debate Over GHG, Climate Benefits

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is approving a novel customer opt-in renewable natural gas (RNG) tariff program for two major utilities amid debate among a variety of stakeholders over whether the fuel derived from landfills and agricultural facilities cuts greenhouse gases and helps the state meet its climate objectives. “The approval of the Renewable Natural Gas Tariff is an important step in achieving California’s climate goals,” states a Dec. 17 press release by Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), one...

EPA poised to publish cost-benefit air rule, starting clock for lawsuits

EPA is poised to publish its rule overhauling the agency’s methods for weighing the costs and benefits of Clean Air Act regulations in the Dec. 23 Federal Register , bringing the rule into effect immediately and starting a 60-day clock for environmentalists and other opponents of the policy to file legal challenges in a bid to scrap it. The rule, released Dec. 9 ahead of its pending publication in the Register , has three main elements: a requirement for a...

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