Energy

With debate raging over coal, natural gas, biofuels, alternative energy, climate change and a host of other measures, our Energy section provides a comprehensive collection of must-read stories on the issue.

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With debate raging over coal, natural gas, biofuels, alternative energy, climate change and a host of other measures, our Energy section provides a comprehensive collection of must-read stories on the issue.

EPA Sends CWA 401 Rule Revisions To OMB For Interagency Review

EPA has sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review its proposed rule that would revise the Biden administration’s Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 water quality certification rule, a measure that would narrow the scope of states’ certification and provide clarity given regulatory uncertainty with the 2023 rule. EPA’s sent its proposed CWA 401 certification rule to OMB on Nov. 5, and the agency’s Unified Agenda details plans to issue the proposal sometime in...

Environmentalists, States Attack Legal Basis For GHG Reporting Rollback

Environmental groups and Democratic-led states are detailing legal arguments against EPA’s proposal to roll back its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), arguing the plan relies on a “novel” and incorrect interpretation of the Clean Air Act’s information-gathering authority and ignores congressional directives to conduct such reporting. The pushback, detailed in formal comments on EPA’s proposal, disputes the agency’s primary claim that it lacks ongoing legal authority for the GHGRP, as well as officials’ alternative claim that EPA has discretion to...

Cramer, Whitehouse Urge EPA To Withdraw GHG Reporting Repeal Plan

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) -- key voices in their respective parties on energy and environmental issues -- are pressing EPA to withdraw its proposal to undo its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), raising concern that such a move would undercut the competitiveness of U.S. industry. The request in a Nov. 3 letter to EPA amplifies industry warnings that ending GHG reporting for nearly all sectors -- and suspending certain oil and gas sector reporting until 2034...

Lawyers Urge Uncertain Firms To Comply With CARB GHG-Disclosure Rules

Industry attorneys are recommending that even if large companies are uncertain if they must comply with the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) pending greenhouse gas and climate risk disclosure rules, they should still file initial reports when they are due, in anticipation that board officials will clarify key terms and definitions early next year. “I think that companies should conservatively assume that if there is the possibility that they’ll need to report, go ahead and report, even if it is...

Law Firm Says New California Cap & Invest Laws Send ‘Strong’ Global Signal

Two new California laws to extend and modify the state’s greenhouse gas market -- which has been renamed as a “cap-and-invest” program -- are sending “a strong signal globally” about using such systems to address carbon emissions, according to an analysis by attorneys with the industry-focused law firm Latham & Watkins. “The new laws restore long-term‑ statutory authority, largely maintaining the market architecture that has governed the program since 2017, and preserve significant discretion for the California Air Resources Board...

EPA Approves North Dakota’s CCR Program, Boosting Push For Other States

EPA is finalizing its proposed approval of North Dakota’s application to operate its own coal combustion residuals (CCR) permitting program, marking the first of several such state programs that the Trump administration expects to finalize though environmentalists are signaling they plan to challenge the action. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s final approval on Nov. 3 during a signing ceremony in Bismarck, ND, saying that by “entrusting state experts with the authority to oversee their own resources, we are...

Democrats’ Election Wins Boost Calls To Embrace ‘Clean, Cheap’ Energy

Democrats’ strong showing in the Nov. 4 off-year elections is prompting clean energy advocates to ramp up their pitch for policymakers to embrace “cheaper and cleaner” power as an electoral boost, amid indications that concerns about inflation and affordability were a major factor in the party’s victories. The scope of the victories -- centered largely in liberal or swing states like California, Virginia and New Jersey but also including key pickups in conservative states like Georgia -- is also prompting...

Industry Faults CARB GHG-Reporting Template, Seeks Compliance Delays

Numerous industry groups from across the country are faulting the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) greenhouse gas-reporting template that thousands of companies can use to publicly divulge for the first time their emissions profiles as required by a landmark 2023 state law, while also reiterating calls for compliance delays. “[T]here are concerns that use of the Draft Reporting Template, which contains nearly 200 spreadsheet rows, is likely to result in over-reporting, impose undue administrative burdens, and compromise the accuracy and...

Court Grants Industry Bid To Block CARB Enforcement Of Clean Truck Pact

A federal court is granting truck manufacturers’ request for a preliminary injunction on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), agreeing with industry that CARB’s recent state court suit to enforce the deal marked a backdoor means of enforcing emissions rules despite Congress’ repeal of EPA’s preemption waivers. However, the court is rejecting the truck makers’ request for injunctions on several CARB regulations, as well as their First Amendment claim. CARB’s “filing of that lawsuit is...

Environmentalists, Utilities Clash Over Softening California GHG Targets

California’s largest electric utilities and environmentalists are clashing over whether the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) should ease greenhouse gas-reduction targets for 2030 and beyond, engaging in disputes about whether enough affordable renewable power will come online to meet demand growth and achieve the targets. “The Commission must uphold and maintain its greenhouse gas (‘GHG’) planning targets,” attorneys for the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and Sierra Club argue in Oct. 31 comments to CPUC. “Some parties suggest loosening the...

EPA Continues CCR Enforcement Amid Trump Shifts, Former Official Says

EPA is continuing to enforce violations of its 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations despite broad concerns regarding a Trump administration retreat, a former enforcement official says, but the types of violations the agency is enforcing appear likely to shift given ongoing and future changes to the agency’s regulatory landscape. “I actually don’t think enforcement is retreating on coal ash,” Lynne Davies, former chief of the Waste Enforcement Branch in EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) now at...

Environmentalists Reassess NEPA Strategy After String Of Court Losses

Environmentalists are reassessing their strategy when bringing new cases under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) following mounting court losses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Seven County ruling bolstering agency deference and narrowing the scope of reviews. Environmentalists say they are still determining how best to move forward while conceding that they can no longer bring cases alleging that broad downstream climate impacts must be considered in NEPA reviews. “We’re more cautious about the litigation we’re bringing...

More evidence EPA will keep Energy Star

EPA has quietly renewed four contracts with a consulting firm that helps administer its Energy Star program including one through September of 2030, more evidence that the agency, under pressure, is retreating from boldly announced May plans to shutter the popular energy efficiency program. The New York Times reported Nov. 1 on EPA’s contract renewals with consulting firm ICF. Brigit Hirsh, an EPA spokeswoman, told the Times that “no final decision has been made at this time” on...

FERC Faces Suit Over Gas Pipeline As New York Weighs 401 Certification

Environmental and nonprofit groups are suing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over its August reissuance of a certificate approving a natural gas pipeline in New York and New Jersey, the latest challenge to the project as New York officials weigh whether to grant a high-profile Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 certification. Groups filed an Oct. 30 joint petition for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, urging the court to review and...

EPA’s Repeal Proposal Sparks Fears Of Costly GHG Reporting ‘Patchwork’

Technology and other groups are warning that EPA’s proposal to gut its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) could raise costs to businesses due to the likely need to implement ramped up voluntary or state-based reporting programs, while also jeopardizing the competitiveness of U.S. exports. The concerns surface in formal comments to the agency filed by a Nov. 3 deadline, including warnings that scuttling GHG reporting mandates could spur a proliferation of state reporting programs and hamper data availability critical to...

Biofuels Groups Seek Full ‘Reallocation’ Of Waived RFS Refiner Volumes

Biofuels groups are pressing EPA for a full “reallocation” of waived renewable fuel standard (RFS) blending volumes when it finalizes its RFS requirements for 2026 and 2027, rebuffing the agency’s proposal to reallocate only half of the volumes waived for small refiners and asserting that anything less than full reallocation is unlawful. In comments on EPA’s supplemental RFS proposal for 2026 and 2027 submitted ahead of an Oct. 31 deadline, biofuels groups were adamant that EPA must reassign all waived...

Biofuels Groups Sue To Force Release Of Final RFS As Waiver Battles Grow

Biofuels groups are suing to force EPA to quickly finalize its overdue renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending volumes for 2026 and 2027, as the agency’s target of issuing a final rule by Dec. 31 fast approaches and legal battles intensify over EPA’s related denial of dozens of small refinery waivers from RFS mandates. In their lawsuit filed Oct. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, biodiesel group Clean Fuels Alliance America and pro-ethanol group Growth...

Corps Approves First 404 Permit On Expedited Track, Spurring Warnings

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 dredge-and-fill permit for rerouting portions of the controversial Line 5 oil pipeline in Wisconsin, the first such permit issued under the expedited process created by President Trump’s energy “emergency” executive order (EO), though environmentalists are warning of legal challenges. The Corps on Oct. 29 issued a CWA section 404 permit to Enbridge, Inc., for construction-related effects to federally regulated waters for its Line 5 reroute...

Reprising Massachusetts, States May Face Standing Test In GHG Risk Suit

Upcoming litigation over EPA’s planned repeal of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding will test states’ standing to sue over climate measures, warns the head of an academic group working with states to promote strong environmental policies, potentially reprising arguments in the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA case. In the 2007 decision in Massachusetts , which directed EPA to consider regulating GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act for the first time, the high court also concluded Massachusetts had standing...

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