EPA Agenda

House Tees Up CRA Vote To Rescind EPA Rule For IRA’s Methane ‘Charge’

House Republicans are teeing up a floor vote on whether to quickly rescind EPA’s implementing regulation for the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) methane emissions fee for the oil and gas sector, even as GOP lawmakers are hoping to repeal the underlying statutory basis for the fee in subsequent budget “reconciliation” legislation. House lawmakers this week are also poised to vote on a second Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution targeting an Energy Department (DOE) efficiency rule for gas-fired, tankless water heaters...

Environmentalists Press Trump EPA To Outline GHG Endangerment Stance

Environmental groups are seeking to draw attention to the Trump administration’s consideration of whether to repeal EPA’s landmark 2009 greenhouse gas finding that forms the legal basis for its climate rules, urging officials to reveal the agency’s internal policy recommendation it made to the White House pursuant to a recent executive order. President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin “must publicly release EPA’s endangerment finding recommendation,” Sierra Club says in a Feb. 21 press release. “The American people deserve...

Trump EPA Strips EJ Language From West Virginia CCS Permit Primacy Rules

EPA has quietly dropped references to the environmental justice (EJ) aspects of West Virginia’s carbon storage well permit program from a Biden-era rule granting the state primary authority over those wells, a move that reiterates the administration’s opposition to EJ measures though it is not clear if it will affect the state’s pledges. During a Feb. 18 ceremony, Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a revised final rule stripping the EJ language from the version initially crafted by the Biden administration. At...

DOJ Probe Of EPA ‘Green Bank’ Program Spurs Top Prosecutor To Resign

The Justice Department’s (DOJ) review of funds awarded under the Biden EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF) has reportedly spurred the resignation of a top federal prosecutor after Trump officials sought to freeze assets in the multi-billion-dollar clean energy financing program. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week targeted the GHGRF , pledging that the agency would seek to “instantly terminate” an agreement with a top bank to disburse $20 billion from the program. In a Feb. 13 statement, he said...

Zeldin Seeks To ‘Reassume Responsibility’ Of GHG Reduction Fund Money

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency is seeking to “instantly terminate” an agreement to disburse funds from the Biden administration’s $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF) intended to finance a variety of clean energy projects, arguing that administration officials should “reassume responsibility” for the funds. The move -- which concerns an agreement in which a private bank acts as the government’s “agent” for distributing the obligated GHGRF funding -- appears to be a precursor to attempts to pause...

Industry, Senators Identify Steps To Advance EPA Carbon Storage Permitting

As developers are increasingly applying for permits for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects, some lawmakers and industry representatives are identifying congressional steps to speed such development, including nudging EPA to ease its carbon storage permitting rules, and supporting states taking over primary permitting authority. During a Feb. 12 hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Kevin Connors, assistant director for regulatory compliance and energy policy at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research...

Industry Groups Seek To Pause Suits Against Multiple EPA Vehicle Rules

Industry groups are asking an appellate court to suspend suits against three EPA vehicle emissions regulations -- its multi-pollutant standards for model year 2027 and later passenger vehicles, MY23-26 auto greenhouse gas standards, and heavy truck GHG standards -- given Trump administration pledges to reconsider EPA’s vehicle programs. In addition, EPA itself is also asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to pause litigation over the Biden administration’s methane standards for oil and gas equipment...

Signaling Rollback, DOJ Asks D.C. Circuit To Pause Utility GHG Case

The Justice Department (DOJ) is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to pause litigation over the Biden EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards so that recently installed Trump administration officials at the agency can assess the regulation ahead of expected moves to scale it back, even though the court heard arguments in the case two months ago. “To provide new leadership with sufficient time to familiarize themselves with these issues and determine how they...

Industry Lawyer Doubts Fresh Bid For Trump Stay Of Utility GHG Limits

An industry attorney is casting doubt on new calls for the Trump EPA to issue an administrative stay of the Biden EPA’s greenhouse gas power plant standards while it pursues a longer rulemaking to undo them, warning that courts rejected a similar move during the first Trump administration to stay methane rules. The suggestion follows a letter from several utilities earlier this month urging the Trump administration to issue either an administrative stay of the rules, or a conduct a...

Hill GOP Weighs Targeting EPA Vehicle Standards Via Reconciliation Bill

Capitol Hill Republicans are considering using budget reconciliation legislation to target EPA’s vehicle emissions standards and Transportation Department (DOT) fuel economy rules, a move that could allow the Trump administration to avoid a series of regulatory and judicial hurdles to scaling back the standards. But while some Republicans are asserting the rules could be rescinded in such a bill because doing so would produce budget savings from reduced uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) eligible for federal EV tax credits, other...

Trump Energy EO Opens Path To Rolling Back Biden EPA’s Vehicle Rules

President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at “unleashing” domestic energy has formally opened a path to reversing Biden EPA rules for motor vehicles, targeting California’s vehicle emission programs, and revisiting implementation of laws that provide supports for electric vehicles (EVs) and their infrastructure. The language included in the Jan. 20 order on “Unleashing American Energy” follows through with promised Trump efforts to push back against policies that encourage or require EVs, even as it makes clear that the process for...

EPA’s GHG Rules Face Doubts As Trump Orders Review Of Risk Finding

President Donald Trump in one of his first official acts is directing EPA to review the “legality and continuing applicability” of the agency’s landmark greenhouse gas endangerment finding that forms the basis for all of its climate rules, though both environmentalists and industry sources have voiced early doubts that EPA would scrap the finding. Nevertheless, the directive included in a broader Jan. 20 executive order aimed at “unleashing American energy” is heightening uncertainty surrounding EPA’s threshold authority to curb GHGs...

Ahead Of Trump, Judges Offer Clues On EPA Rule Governing State Air Plans

Oral arguments over the Biden EPA’s implementing rules for section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act appeared to offer clues about how the incoming Trump administration might rewrite the measure as expected, with one GOP-appointed judge voicing support for narrow interpretations of agency authority to oversee state plans to meet federal climate rules. The Jan. 17 oral arguments in West Virginia, et al. v. EPA -- before a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District...

Zeldin Affirms EPA GHG Authority But Opens Path To Scaling Back Rules

Trump EPA administrator nominee Lee Zeldin during his Senate nomination hearing affirmed the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions but embraced a role for fossil fuels and made clear his readiness to reconsider Biden-era climate and other standards to enable “pragmatic” approaches to regulation. Zeldin during a Jan. 16 hearing before the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee also hedged on how he would respond to calls to roll back funding under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or the...

Biden EPA Details 11th-Hour Defense Of ‘Phase 3’ Heavy-Truck GHG Rule

The Biden administration is seeking to formalize its legal defense of EPA’s “phase 3” greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty trucks, including the rule’s partial reliance on vehicles with electric powertrains, even as the incoming Trump administration is expected to ask to pause the litigation to reassess the policy. “The ‘motor vehicles’ regulated by the [Clean Air Act] are defined by their function, not their power source. They can be powered by diesel, electricity, or any other energy source,” EPA says...

EPA Denies Industry Reconsideration Petitions For Power Plant GHG Rules

The Biden EPA is denying two industry petitions to reconsider various aspects of the agency’s major power plant GHG standards, even as the incoming Trump administration is expected to quickly take steps to reverse the rule that includes strict standards based on the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS). EPA in a Jan. 15 Federal Register notice and accompanying justification document argues that objections from Mountain State Energy Holdings (MSEH) and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) about EPA’s...

New Analysis Sees ‘Backstop’ Role For Biden EPA Power Plant GHG Rule

A new analysis from economists and other researchers finds the Biden EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards would slash even more emissions than the agency projected and that the rule would provide a key backstop in the event high-emissions coal power generation increases, though the rule is unlikely to survive the incoming Trump EPA. The rules “accelerate emissions reductions in the power sector,” the researchers write in a Jan. 9 article published in the journal Science , adding that...

In First, EPA Region 9 Issues UIC Permits For Novel California CCS Projects

In a first, EPA’s Region 9 covering several Pacific Southwest states has issued underground injection control (UIC) permits for several novel carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects in California, underscoring the Biden administration’s efforts to advance such projects despite opposition from environmental justice (EJ) groups. “Although carbon sequestration does not address emissions of methane -- a climate super pollutant, responsible for approximately one-third of global warming -- from the oil and gas sector, it does capture carbon dioxide,” said EPA...

Groups Clash Over EPA Proposal To Grant West Virginia CO2 Storage Primacy

Environmental justice (EJ) and business groups are clashing over EPA’s proposal to grant West Virginia primary authority over “Class VI” carbon storage wells, a plan that the incoming Trump EPA is expected to advance at some point to speed such permit approvals. Amanda Demmerle, an attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates, expressed “deep dissatisfaction and concern” with EPA’s plan during a Dec. 30 public hearing, arguing the state program is less stringent than EPA’s regulations for numerous reasons and thus cannot...

Industry Details Defense Of EPA’s Vehicle Rule But Warns Against Rollback

Automakers are further detailing their defense of two key aspects of EPA’s model year 2027 and later vehicle multi-pollutant standards in pending litigation by GOP states and fuels groups, while warning that any rejection of those provisions by the courts or the incoming Trump administration would render the rules infeasible. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation’s pitch in a Dec. 23 brief in Commonwealth of Kentucky v. EPA elaborates on the group’s intervention in the case. The Alliance is not...

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