EPA Agenda

Industries Urge CARB To Extend GHG-Reporting Deadline, Clarify Key Terms

Industry groups and corporations are urging the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to extend a proposed June 2026 deadline to disclose their “scope 1” and “scope 2” greenhouse gas emissions, while also seeking clarity on key terms that will determine which entities are subject to the state’s landmark climate-disclosure program. The California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA), for example, “is concerned that it may not be feasible for companies to gather and assure Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions data...

In Blow To EPA Plan, NAS Says GHG Harms ‘Beyond Scientific Dispute’

The National Academies’ just-issued review of recent climate science says the “evidence for current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused [greenhouse gases] is beyond scientific dispute,” rebuffing EPA’s claims, as part of its proposal to undo its 2009 GHG endangerment finding, that the science is unsettled. The Sept. 17 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) underscores appraisals from many observers that EPA’s final rule will have to rely on legal...

EPA Downplays Congressional Directive For GHG Reporting In Repeal Plan

EPA’s proposed rule to scrap nearly all greenhouse gas reporting for industry is brushing aside arguments that Congress directed such reporting over a decade ago, with the agency also claiming it lacks a basis for requiring “continuous” emissions tracking under its Clean Air Act (CAA) information-gathering authority. EPA’s Sept. 12 proposal also acknowledges that undoing its GHG Reporting Rule (GHGRP) could complicate implementation of federal tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as well as clean hydrogen, but the...

EPA Proposes To Largely Scrap Industrial GHG Reporting Requirements

EPA is seeking to repeal reporting requirements for virtually all industrial sectors currently subject to its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), despite a congressional mandate to create such a program, and to suspend until 2034 most “Subpart W” oil and gas sector rules while also repealing mandates for gas distribution operations. The proposal follows through with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s March pledge to “reconsider” the program -- and subsequent reports that EPA would virtually eliminate it -- even as critics...

Disbanded DOE Climate Group Poses New Challenges For EPA, Critics Say

Trump administration critics say EPA appears to face a new challenge in addressing criticism of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) report downplaying climate risks -- after DOE disbanded the working group that developed it -- underscoring the possibility EPA could de-emphasize science arguments in a final rule to undo its climate risk finding. It appears that Energy Secretary Chris Wright “is leaving [EPA Administrator] Lee Zeldin holding the bag,” Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) senior attorney David Doniger tells Inside...

Trump’s ‘Hostile’ Clean Energy Stance Hobbles GHG Targets, Report Says

The Trump administration’s “openly hostile” approach to key low-carbon technologies is setting up a dynamic in which the U.S. will badly miss its greenhouse gas-reduction targets, according to a new expert analysis, even as demand is expected to continue for various clean energy resources. “On the way to 2040, we estimate GHG emissions levels will decline 26-35% in 2035, a meaningful shift from our 2024 report, which showed a steeper decline of 38-56% by that point,” says a Sept. 10...

Proposed EPA rollback of GHG reporting program clears OMB

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has concluded its review of EPA’s upcoming proposal to scale back or eliminate greenhouse gas reporting requirements for numerous industries, setting the stage for the imminent release of the plan. OMB completed its review Sept. 8, according to a regulatory notice . The forthcoming proposal will broadly reassess the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which requires almost four dozen industrial sectors to report their emissions annually. It is separate from an...

Small Oil & Gas Producers Seek To Broaden Methane Rule Compliance Delay

Small oil and gas producers are urging EPA to expand the scope of its interim final rule that extends methane emissions compliance deadlines to also include delay of certain reporting requirements, even as environmental groups are challenging the rule in court as a violation of the Clean Air Act and Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The pitch, which surfaces in comments on EPA’s rulemaking, comes even as industry groups broadly praised the extension during a public hearing on the measure, while...

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...

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...

Trump EPA Critics Revive Bush-Era Warning Of Inevitable GHG Risk Finding

Former EPA staff are highlighting 2008 correspondence between then-Administrator Stephen Johnson and President George W. Bush to assert the futility of Trump officials’ arguments that climate change science deficiencies could justify EPA’s pending proposal to undo the agency’s 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding. The strategy, part of broader efforts to undermine the Trump-EPA’s rollback, responds to EPA claims in its proposed recission of the finding that the Obama EPA “unreasonably analyzed the scientific record” when it made its finding, and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Industry Lawyers Say EPA Offers ‘Compelling’ CAA Interpretation On GHGs

A pair of industry attorneys are expressing confidence in EPA’s “clever” legal arguments supporting its high-profile proposal to rescind the agency’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding, arguing the legal interpretations are more sophisticated than EPA’s separate plan to repeal all of its power plant GHG standards. However, the lawyers are also flagging that industry groups are in a “tough spot” with EPA’s proposal because it is attempting a high-risk legal maneuver that could subject industry to tough rules if it fails...

House Democrats Join Criticism Of EPA’s Science Claims In GHG Plan

House Democrats are heavily criticizing EPA’s proposal to scrap its greenhouse gas endangerment finding as contrary to widespread scientific findings about climate change risks, while also pressing the agency about whether it still intends to rely on a controversial Energy Department (DOE) report questioning mainstream climate science. The 2009 endangerment finding’s statement that GHGs pose risks to public health and the environment “is uncontroversial -- and, in fact, conservatively stated -- in the scientific community. It is only disputed by...

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...

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