EPA Agenda

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...

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...

Former Officials Doubt EPA Can Preserve Preemption Without GHG Finding

Two former Biden administration officials are asserting that courts will not allow EPA to simultaneously argue it lacks a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases, but that the Clean Air Act would still preempt both common law climate suits and state vehicle emissions programs. The critiques underscore a debate over whether EPA’s high-stakes push to undo its GHG endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG rules could open new paths to advancing climate nuisance claims and state vehicle emissions limits --...

Louisiana’s Pause On New CCS Permits May Signal Hurdles For Other States

Louisiana officials are halting review of new carbon storage permits to focus on those already in the queue, amid a flood of permit requests and local community pushback -- in a move that one observer says should serve as a warning to other states seeking primacy from EPA to issue such Class VI permits for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. “All of the dialogue has been . . . ‘primacy is going to mean we’re going to get faster...

Shutdown Appears To Have Little Effect On EPA GHG Endangerment Plan

EPA is reiterating its goal of finalizing a rollback of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and associated vehicle GHG limits by the end of this year, as multiple sources say there is little evidence that the rulemaking has been delayed yet by the ongoing government shutdown. “The agency aims to finalize the rulemaking before the end of the year,” the agency’s press office said in an Oct. 21 statement to Inside EPA ’s Climate Extra . While uncertainty persists about...

Suppliers Warn Of Potential Job Losses From Rescinding EPA Auto Rules

The Trump administration’s push to scuttle vehicle greenhouse gas standards and the agency’s related GHG endangerment finding is sparking objections from auto suppliers that such a move could compromise domestic markets for clean technologies and ultimately shift jobs in relevant technologies abroad. The concerns from the Manufacturers of Emissions Control Association (MECA), detailed in comments on the agency’s proposal to scuttle the standards, join broader warnings that the U.S. risks losing the battle for clean technology leadership as federal agencies...

EV Sector Says Reliance Interests Should Block Interim GHG Rule Relief

A group representing companies across the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain is warning EPA not to pursue an interim final regulation (IFR) to begin rolling back vehicle greenhouse gas requirements, arguing the agency has no basis for such a move and that it would intrude upon its members’ reliance interests. The warning from the Zero Emissions Transportation Association (ZETA) is included in broader comments sent to EPA last month citing myriad concerns with a proposal to undo EPA’s GHG endangerment...

API Argues Biden EPA’s ‘Errors’ Justify Extending Methane Rule Deadlines

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is claiming that EPA’s controversial compliance extension for oil and gas sector methane controls is justified because of “errors” in the Biden-era rulemaking, as the industry seeks to shore up the legal rationale for EPA’s compliance delay plan first issued as an interim final regulation (IFR). The input to the agency, focused specifically on the IFR’s compliance delays for new and modified facilities, surfaces in Sept. 30 comments . However, the IFR, which extended several...

Oil & Gas Sector Cites Global Markets As Reason To Retain GHG Reporting

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is highlighting global energy markets as a reason to maintain some level of EPA’s greenhouse gas reporting requirements, a pitch that supplements separate industry concerns that scuttling the program could compromise the ability to claim federal tax credits for carbon storage and clean hydrogen production. “Maintaining credible reporting is essential to sustaining U.S. competitiveness and ensuring that U.S. [liquefied natural gas (LNG)] -- already among the lowest-emissions options available -- remains a cornerstone of global...

CCS Supporters Say Federal ‘Mixed Signals’ Could Restrict Development

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) proponents are expressing ongoing frustration that the Trump administration’s “mixed” support for CCS projects, as well as its broad disavowal of climate mitigation efforts, threatens to restrict development of the technology. The U.S. is seeing “some uncertainty and mixed signals [that] could curtail CCS deployment,” the Global CCS Institute says in its Oct. 9 annual CCS status report . Even so, the report broadly argues that CCS advancement is “staying the course” globally. Progress includes...

Appliance Makers Criticize Eased HFC Limits, Highlighting Industry Split

A key group representing appliance manufacturers is criticizing the Trump EPA’s proposal to ease various Biden-era end-use restrictions for climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons, arguing compliance deadline extensions for the grocery and other sectors would make it hard for manufacturers to plan their products and ultimately aid foreign industry. The EPA proposal “would disrupt multi-year planning and investment by U.S. manufacturers,” argues Samantha Slater, vice president of government affairs with the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) that represents companies that make equipment...

Environmentalists Say EPA Lacks Basis For Oil & Gas Methane Rule Delay

Environmental groups are attacking EPA’s rule extending methane and other emissions compliance deadlines for the oil and gas sector, claiming the agency has offered no evidence for the need to extend the deadlines, even as the measure is already being challenged in court. The arguments supplement environmentalists’ litigation claims that the agency lacked a basis for claiming a “good cause” exemption from public comment procedures when it issued the deadline extensions as an interim final rule (IFR). The measure is...

Former EPA Chiefs Charge GHG Risk Reversal Violates Agency Mission, Law

Three former EPA administrators serving under both Republican and Democratic administrations are urging the agency not to finalize its proposal to rescind its landmark greenhouse gas endangerment finding that underpins numerous GHG standards. The trio of former administrators -- Republicans William Reilly and Christine Todd Whitman, and Democrat Gina McCarthy -- argue the proposal conflicts with EPA’s “clear” legal obligations, as well as established science and EPA’s mission. “The harms caused by greenhouse gas pollution are severe, urgent, and growing,...

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...

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...

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...

EPA Floats HFC End-Use Flexibilities, Aligning With Near-Term Industry Asks

EPA is proposing to provide relief to food retailers, semiconductor manufacturers and others that are required to replace climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons with safer alternatives, issuing a plan that delays compliance deadlines and raises regulatory thresholds but stops short of adopting some of the longer-term exemptions industry sought. EPA Sept. 30 issued a proposal that seeks to extend a host of compliance deadlines, allowing companies in subsectors including residential air conditioning, retail food refrigeration, cold storage warehouses, and semiconductor manufacturing to use...

Court Declines To Rehear Firm’s Nondelegation Challenge To HFC Law

The D.C. Circuit is denying a request from a manufacturer of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to reconsider its claim that Congress illegally delegated authority to EPA in a 2020 law governing the climate-warming chemicals, scuttling chances that the court might reverse a prior panel ruling against the company. In a pair of orders issued Sept. 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected requests from RMS of Georgia, also known as Choice Refrigerants, to rehear a panel...

EEI Warns EPA About Adverse Effects Of Reversing GHG Risk Finding

Investor-owned utilities are cautioning EPA about the potential fallout from removing the greenhouse gas endangerment finding and linked vehicle emissions standards -- arguing federal GHG standards play an important role in displacing federal common law suits and providing the regulatory certainty required to build new gas plants. The power sector is not regulated directly by EPA’s proposed rule, which seeks to rescind the agency’s threshold risk finding and repeal vehicle GHG standards. EPA is separately promulgating a rule that would...

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