Category: Emissions

SCOTUS Declines to Review EPA’s Authority on California’s Vehicle Emission Standards

In a significant development for environmental law and state autonomy, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently declined to review whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to grant California a waiver to set its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for vehicles. This decision leaves in place California’s ability to implement stricter emission rules, marking a key moment in the ongoing battle over federal and state environmental regulations.…

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Nov. 12 its final rule to further reduce methane emissions from oil and gas industries as required under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In particular, Congress established a Waste Emissions Charge for high-emitting oil and gas facilities once emissions exceed 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Coupled with the final Clean Air Act standards issued in March, the Waste Emission Charge is a central component of EPA’s efforts to reduce methane …

On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from power plants while the EPA is being challenged in pending court proceedings, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule’s legality.

The October 16 order arises out the emergency stay applications filed by multiple Republican-led states, utility and coal industry groups after the D.C. Circuit Court rejected their stay bids in July. These parties …

Last week, in a 5-4 opinion, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court granted applications for a stay of the implementation of the “Good Neighbor” Plan, the EPA’s federal emissions reduction rule, set in 2015. The application of this rule was intended to address transboundary ozone pollution that can exacerbate health hazards. As previously explained by ELM, the Clean Air Act’s Good Neighbor provision enabled the EPA to require each state to implement regulations meant to reduce emissions that would …

After much anticipation, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its final rule this week aimed at cutting methane emissions as well as strengthening and updating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reporting for the oil and gas industries.

Methane is a “super pollutant” that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane also contributes to approximately one third of the global warming from GHGs today, and the oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States.  Toward that end, …

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced April 9 a set of final rules under sections 111 and 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to significantly reduce toxic air pollution from more than 200 chemical plants in the United States.

The plants affected make products such as synthetic organic chemicals, plastics, paints, synthetic fabrics, pesticides, petrochemical products, and various polymers and resins, including neoprene. The new rules strengthen protections for communities living near these industrial facilities, especially along the Gulf Coast, and it is anticipated …