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.

D.C. Circuit Finds High Court ‘Abrogated’ NEPA Indirect GHG Review Ruling

A panel of the D.C. Circuit has held that the circuit’s controversial decision requiring assessment of downstream emissions from certain natural gas projects has been “abrogated” by the recent Supreme Court decision limiting reviews of indirect effects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The panel’s Sept. 30 decision in Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) represents a win for the gas industry that has long chafed at the 2017 ruling from the U.S...

CARB Lists Companies Subject To GHG-Disclosure Laws, Seeks Feedback

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released a “preliminary” list of thousands of large companies that it believes are subject to the state’s landmark laws requiring firms to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change-related financial risks, and it is seeking feedback from stakeholders about whether the list is accurate. CARB “encourages companies to complete the survey if they are”: listed but qualify for a potential exemption; listed but should not have been; listed, though a parent company...

Industry Urges 9th Circuit To Adopt SCOTUS’ NEPA ‘Course Correction’

Industry groups are urging the 9th Circuit to follow the Supreme Court’s recent “course correction” in its landmark ruling restricting challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), seeking to extend the precedent after it was recently embraced by the D.C. Circuit. In an Oct. 6 amicus brief in Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service, et al. , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) urge the U.S. Court of...

Vehicle Makers Join EPA In Attacking CARB Effort To Reinstate Older Rules

Major car and truck manufacturers are joining EPA in attacking the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) proposed rules to reinstate older vehicle criteria emissions limits, charging the dual-track regulatory plan violates administrative procedures and hikes compliance uncertainty across the market. But environmentalists and officials in Northeastern and other states that have adopted CARB’s stricter vehicle emission rules are strongly supporting the board’s new proposals. The proposed rules “do not provide clarity and instead sow confusion and uncertainty into California’s certification...

With Hill Talks In Limbo, Groups Step Up Efforts To Use AI In NEPA Reviews

Public and private entities are stepping up their efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to speed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, as Capitol Hill talks on overhauling federal permitting practices remain in limbo in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown. These efforts range from a pilot project at the Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) looming request for proposals on its Permitting Technology Action Plan to speed NEPA reviews,...

Industry, Free Market Groups Craft Broad Target List For State Climate Laws

Industry and free market groups are detailing a broad assortment of state climate laws that they want the Trump administration to challenge in new legal actions, arguing the Justice Department (DOJ) must intervene to assert federal preemption over a host of measures affecting vehicle emissions, climate-related disclosures and cap-and-trade programs. In recent comments submitted to DOJ, the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree Chamber) writes that numerous state and local climate programs “pose substantial burdens on businesses across the...

Washington State Carbon Trading Program Survives High Court Challenge

Washington state’s relatively young greenhouse gas “cap-and-invest” program has survived another major threat to its continued implementation, after the Supreme Court declined to hear a power company’s appeal asserting that the program unconstitutionally burdens interstate commerce. The high court’s decision not to hear the appeal, issued in a brief Oct. 6 order , comes nearly a year after state voters in the November election rejected a ballot initiative that would have repealed the carbon trading program. The justices did not...

Shutdown Raises Questions On Pace Of EPA’s GHG Regulatory Rollbacks

Observers are increasingly asking whether the ongoing federal government shutdown could last long enough to slow EPA’s rollbacks of greenhouse gas regulations, even as some sources are flagging factors that could blunt or eliminate such effects, including leftover funds and the possibility that key staff will be exempted from furloughs. “I can’t speak with any certainty,” one agency source says about divergent rumors about how long the agency can continue operating at relatively normal levels with such leftover funds. The...

Biofuels Groups, Refiners Clash Over RFS Volumes ‘Reallocation’ Proposal

Biofuels groups and refiners are clashing over EPA’s proposal to partially compensate for waivers it issued for small refineries from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, with biofuel producers insisting on a full “reallocation” of volumes to non-exempt refiners, and refiners opposing any reallocation as unlawful. During an Oct. 1 virtual public hearing on EPA’s supplemental RFS volumes proposal for 2026 and 2027, biofuels groups restated their opposition to EPA’s approval of small refinery exemptions (SREs) in general, and...

Lawsuits Mount Over EPA’s RFS Compliance Waiver Denials For Refiners

Litigation is growing over EPA’s denial of compliance waivers for small refiners from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending requirements, as the agency shifts its rationale for granting or denying waivers and prepares to compensate for such waivers in RFS volumes for 2026 and 2027. Refiners’ lawsuits are being consolidated under REH Company LLC v. EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in line with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in EPA v....

NEPA Experts See More Legal Risks In Latest CEQ Guidance, Template

Legal experts say the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) updated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance and implementing template, which are intended to provide clarity for agencies seeking to expedite and simplify permitting, instead raise more legal risks and may not provide the clarity agencies need. The Sept. 29 guidance and template replace similar CEQ documents issued in February and build upon 2023 and 2025 NEPA congressional amendments including a new fee that allows project developers to speed...

Grassley pushes year-round E15 in any farm aid bill

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is pushing to ensure that any bill providing temporary aid to farmers faced with adverse market conditions due to President Trump’s tariffs also approves 15 percent ethanol fuel (E15) for use year-round, a move that would eliminate the need for presidential emergency waivers allowing summertime sales of the fuel. “Any legislation with ad hoc payments to farmers should include allowing year-round, nationwide E15,” Grassley said in an Oct.1 Senate floor speech. Although ad hoc farm aid...

Environmentalists Press EPA To Disclose AI Use In Vehicle, GHG Rollbacks

Environmentalists are pressing for a “detailed disclosure” by EPA of any use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its rulemaking to undo its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle standards, arguing that failure to do so violates procedural requirements and removes safeguards against error. Their call, as part of broader comments to the agency on its GHG repeal proposal, signals concern with a general EPA statement on the use of AI in rulemakings that the agency quietly posted to its...

DOE Scuttles $7.5 Billion In Clean Energy Funds As Budget Fights Mount

The Department of Energy (DOE) is terminating $7.5 billion for 321 awards supporting 223 projects, largely in Democratic states, for clean energy and related projects -- in an Oct. 2 announcement that critics say is aimed at punishing Democrats for the federal government shutdown. The projects cover a wide range of sectors, including power, biofuel, hydrogen, solar, cement, carbon capture and storage, mining and transportation, though a key Trump official indicated the terminations are aimed at states that voted for...

Despite Shutdown, Trump’s Expedited Permitting Agenda Moves Forward

The Trump administration’s agenda for streamlined environmental and other permitting requirements for energy and infrastructure projects is moving forward despite a partial governmental shutdown that threatens to halt all but critical operations until the White House and congressional Democrats reach an agreement on federal funding. The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), the congressionally authorized agency charged with expediting permitting, announced Oct. 2 that its members had met Oct. 1 and identified adequate funding from the Environmental Improvement Fund to...

Groups Say EPA Ignores Trillions In Harm From Ending Vehicle GHG Limits

Environmental and other groups are floating new analyses claiming that EPA’s proposed repeal of Biden-era vehicle greenhouse gas standards for vehicles ignores trillions of dollars of harms the plan would cause, part of an effort to make the case that EPA is acting arbitrarily in moving to scuttle its vehicle GHG program. The analyses are included in broader comments to the agency that claim EPA’s draft cost-benefit analysis for its plan is flawed for reasons including that it ignores the...

Industry, Environmentalists Clash Over California Drilling-Setback Rules

Industry and environmental groups are clashing over California’s proposed rule requiring 3,200-foot setbacks between new or reworked oil and gas production operations and “sensitive receptors,” with industry saying the rules will hinder the state’s new push to increase oil production and environmentalists objecting to new compliance exemptions. “[I]t is imperative that the State act rapidly to mitigate for future refinery closures and stabilize crude oil pipelines that deliver domestic crude to the refineries. Implementation of the proposed First Implementation Regulations...

CCS Sector Fears End Of EPA’s GHG Reporting Rule Could Harm Permitting

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector is pushing back against EPA’s proposal to scuttle greenhouse gas reporting requirements, warning that including CCS-related reporting in its plan would undercut current and planned investments in such efforts and potentially also delay permitting of underground injection wells by EPA or states. During an Oct. 1 public hearing, critics also warned that EPA’s proposed repeal of its GHG reporting rule for nearly all sectors could force industry into other disparate reporting regimes, with...

Gas Firms Say Court Ignores EPCA Precedent In Appeal Over L.A. Boiler Rule

Natural gas firms are urging the 9th Circuit to reverse a lower court ruling that upheld a zero-emission boiler rule in the Los Angeles region, arguing the district court ignored the appellate court’s 2024 ruling that Berkeley, CA’s ban on natural gas hookups to new homes and buildings was preempted by the Energy Policy & Conservation Act (EPCA). “This case presents essentially the same question of federal preemption this Court resolved last year” in California Restaurant Association (CRA) v. City...

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