Fossil Fuels - Climate Extra

EPA Downplays Cost Harms For Small Wells In Opposing Methane Rule Stay

EPA and its supporters are urging a federal court to spurn the oil and gas industry’s claims that the cost of its methane rule, particularly for low-production wells, justifies a court-issued stay, arguing their cost claims are overstated or speculative and that delaying the rule would harm the public. The arguments, submitted June 11 in consolidated litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, build on prior debates between the Justice Department (DOJ) and Republican-led...

Oil & Gas Groups Outline Early Legal Claims Against EPA Methane Rule

Several industry groups are offering initial details of legal arguments against EPA’s final oil and gas sector methane standards, including concerns about the rule’s provisions on flaring, storage vessels, and “super emitter” events -- even as the agency is reviewing at least some of the industry’s concerns via administrative reconsideration petitions. The early legal claims surface in multiple statements of issues filed by a June 7 deadline in State of Texas, et al. v. EPA -- consolidated litigation in...

EPA Plan To Curtail Voluntary Reporting Continues Shift To Methane Rules

EPA is scaling back some information collection from the oil and gas sector as part of its plan to sunset voluntary methane programs, offering another indication that agency officials are increasingly relying on their suite of strict standards and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs to achieve emissions cuts in the sector. A Federal Register notice published June 5 highlights the agency’s decision, announced several weeks ago, to sunset its Methane Challenge Partnership by the end of the year, “based...

EPA Agrees To Industry Request To Reconsider Parts Of Methane Rule

EPA is agreeing to reconsider two elements of its methane standards for the oil and gas industry in response to a petition from two major industry trade groups, a decision that comes amid high-stakes requests for a court to stay implementation of the rule pending the conclusion of legal challenges. Tomás Carbonell, EPA’s deputy assistant administrator for stationary sources, writes in a May 6 letter to the American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) that the...

Biden Officials Propose No New Leases In Prolific Powder River Coal Basin

The Biden administration is proposing to issue no new coal mining leases in the country’s largest coal-producing region known as the Powder River Basin, a decision that comes after a years-long legal and administrative battle about the climate change implications of continuing to allow federal coal production. In a final National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review released May 16, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) selected a proposed alternative that would “make BLM-managed coal resources in the planning areas unavailable...

Methane Reporting Rule Limits Use Of ‘Advanced’ Monitoring Technology

EPA’s final oil and gas sector greenhouse gas reporting rule reiterates the agency’s view that limitations in “advanced” methane monitoring technologies -- such as satellites, aircraft or continuous monitors -- preclude relying on them to quantify annual emissions, even as officials are embracing them for detecting large emissions events. The agency’s updates to the reporting requirements, however, do allow for direct measurement of emissions from several source types, in what observers say will prompt operators to weigh whether to use...

Environmental Groups File Narrow Methane Suit, As Industry Seeks Changes

Three environmental groups are filing a lawsuit over “discrete aspects” of EPA’s oil and gas methane emissions rule that they consider too lenient, even as major industry groups are also submitting administrative petitions for the agency to reconsider other elements of the regulation they deem too onerous. The May 7 suit by Air Alliance Houston, Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project also coincides with a May 7 administrative petition from the same groups for EPA to reconsider aspects of...

Opposing States’ Stay Bid, DOJ Defends EPA Methane Rule’s Flexibilities

The Justice Department (DOJ) is urging a federal court to deny Republican states’ push for a stay of EPA’s oil and gas methane rules, arguing the states’ federalism claims are flawed because the rule gives states significant latitude to set requirements for existing facilities and its two-year deadline to write implementation plans is reasonable. DOJ also claims states have failed to show imminent harm from the regulations -- a key element for securing a stay -- and that imposing a...

Final EPA Methane Reporting Rule Narrows Definition Of ‘Large’ Releases

EPA’s just-released final update to oil and gas sector greenhouse gas reporting requirements scraps a proposed tonnage threshold for defining “large events” subject to new reporting, responding to concerns from industry and the agency’s science advisers that such a threshold could have captured even small leaks. This decision is one of several concessions to industry in the May 6 final updates to “subpart W” reporting requirements, with EPA in its final rule also touting flexibilities such as new options for...

Oil & gas groups join litigation challenging EPA methane rule

Multiple oil and gas trade groups are joining ongoing litigation over EPA’s methane emissions standards for the sector, as an appellate court is already weighing Republican-led states’ request to pause implementation of the measure. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a May 1 order consolidated two new suits over the methane rule with pre-existing litigation brought by the states, known as State of Texas, et al. v. EPA, et al . One of the...

Lawmakers, Energy Experts Offer Suggestions For DOE’s LNG Export Review

Lawmakers and energy market experts are identifying top issues they say the Energy Department (DOE) should address in its ongoing review of the climate and economic implications of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, including a call to develop a standardized method to measure and report exports’ greenhouse gas emissions. As it conducts the review, the Biden administration has also decided to pause new approvals of LNG exports, a decision strongly opposed by natural gas producers but endorsed by environmentalists. DOE...

California Bill Requiring Firms To Pay For Climate Damage Faces Uphill Battle

A California bill that would require fossil fuel companies to pay the state potentially tens of billions of dollars for environmental and other damages caused by climate change is facing an uphill battle in the state legislature over its legality and implementation feasibility and amid strong opposition from labor unions. The measure echoes proposals in roughly half a dozen other states that seek to impose charges on fossil fuel producers for their role in causing climate-related damages, with backers drawing...

Several GOP States Challenge BLM Rule To Limit Natural Gas ‘Waste’

Four Republican-led states are launching a legal challenge to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final rule curbing “wasted” natural gas on federal lands, asserting the rule is unlawful because it is effectively an air pollution standard that is not supported by the agency’s statutory authority focused on resource management. The suit filed April 26 in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota is the latest in a decade-long legal battle over BLM’s efforts to limit flaring,...

DOE Advisory Group Floats Options To Curb Gas Sector Methane, CO2

A new National Petroleum Council (NPC) report sought by the Energy Department (DOE) is highlighting the gap between projected greenhouse gas cuts from the natural gas sector under existing policies and necessary reductions, floating various recommendations to further curb methane and also avoid a significant projected rise in carbon dioxide. The recommendations include a call to ramp up more CO2 sequestration and boost electrification of the natural gas supply chain, and for policymakers to consider additional “market mechanisms” that could...

DOE Official Argues LNG Permit Pause Bolsters Approvals’ Legal Defense

A top Energy Department (DOE) official is arguing that the Biden administration’s pause in approving new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will ultimately boost the legal defense of any future approvals, given likely claims from environmentalists that officials would be relying on out-of-date analysis without such a policy review. “We have a strong record of defending our Natural Gas Act [NGA] determinations [including LNG export approvals] because they’ve relied on well-supported and up-to-date analysis,” said Brad Crabtree, chief of DOE’s...

Methane Detection Firms Ramp Up Pitch for More Flexible GHG Reporting

The methane detection sector is ramping up 11th-hour arguments that EPA should ease elements of its proposed updates to oil and gas facilities’ greenhouse gas reporting requirements that the industry argues discourage use of advanced monitoring, with the pitch echoing some critiques by the Science Advisory Board (SAB) of EPA’s plan. The calls -- including in meetings on the draft final rule with the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) -- come as officials hope to complete the...

House Republicans Urge EPA To Restart Rules For Methane Fee, Reporting

Dozens of House Republicans are pressing EPA to “go back to the drawing board” on its proposals to implement a congressionally mandated methane emissions fee and related improvements to greenhouse gas reporting rules, adding to prior GOP critiques of the regulations as EPA strives to complete both rules in the coming months. The oil sector has already pressed for a repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) methane fee -- an effort that could hinge on the outcome of the...

States Advance Variety Of Legal Claims Against EPA Methane Standards

States are advancing a variety of legal arguments against EPA’s oil and gas sector methane rule, including long-running claims that the rule is unlawful as a threshold matter due to a lack of a source-specific “endangerment” finding, as well as assertions that the rule tramples on state authority to set unique limits for existing sources in the sector. The legal pitches surface in both an April 12 request from two dozen GOP-led states that an appellate court stay EPA’s rule,...

Environmentalists Press EPA To Make Methane Fee An Enforcement Focus

Major environmental groups are pressing EPA to make the congressionally mandated methane emissions fee and related greenhouse gas reporting requirements a national enforcement priority, arguing such a move would help ensure a level playing field for the oil and gas industry. EPA should “consider whether the [fee] and reporting under the [GHG Reporting Program (GHGRP)], including subpart W [covering oil and gas facilities], qualifies as a National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative (NECI) for fiscal years 2024-2027,” six environmental groups write...

Interior Finalizes Venting, Flaring Limits For Federal Oil & Gas Wells

Complementing EPA’s methane emissions standards for the oil and gas sector, the Interior Department (DOI) has finalized standards to restrict “wasted” natural gas via venting, flaring or leaks at drilling operations on federal lands, a measure that is winning praise from some environmentalists though others warn it lacks enforceable capture mandates. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final standards -- released March 27 ahead of publication in the Federal Register -- largely mirror key elements of the agency’s November...

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