This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the penultimate step to granting Texas the authority to directly issue Class VI permits under the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control (UIC)...more
6/16/2025
/ Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government ,
Texas
On May 22, 2025, the House passed budget reconciliation legislation referred to as “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill” (the “Bill”). As currently written, the Bill would reshape key aspects of federal energy policy by targeting...more
5/27/2025
/ Budget Reconciliation ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
FERC ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Infrastructure ,
Natural Gas ,
NEPA ,
New Legislation ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Pipelines ,
Regulatory Reform
On April 8, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach” (the “Executive Order”), which directs the United States Attorney General to identify and halt the...more
In a significant legal maneuver with potentially far-reaching implications, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amended complaint on June 10, 2024, to California’s high-profile lawsuit targeting five of the world’s...more
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (“DSL”) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).1 The change in the DSL listing status, which...more
New and additional bonding requirements for certain companies operating on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) will take effect in June as a result of a recent rulemaking. These new requirements will be phased in over a...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a host of new obligations for upstream and midstream oil and gas owners and operators. These new source performance standards (“NSPS”) and emission guidelines (“EG”) for...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released proposed and final rules that will regulate methane emissions from oil and gas operations, implement a methane emissions tax, and change greenhouse gas reporting...more
2/23/2024
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Events ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Oil & Gas ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a proposed rule to assess and collect billions of dollars in methane “waste emission charges” from the oil and gas sector....more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has recently finalized volumes for compliance years 2020, 2021, and 2022 under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”)’s renewable fuel standard (“RFS”) program and took several other related...more
On March 8, 2022, the Science Based Targets initiative (“SBTi”) announced that it would “no longer accept commitments or validate targets from fossil fuel companies” until it completes development of sector-specific criteria...more
On November 15, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a proposed rule that included three separate actions under the Clean Air Act that target new and existing air emission sources at oil and natural gas...more
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) has issued a final rule that, for the first time ever, expands certain federal pipeline safety requirements to all onshore gas gathering pipelines,...more
11/23/2021
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Register ,
FERC ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
PHMSA ,
Pipelines ,
PIPES Act ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rural Areas
The first action proposes first-time emission guidelines to reduce methane emissions from almost 1 million existing oil and gas wells, almost 2,000 existing interstate natural gas compressor stations, and over 500 existing...more
11/5/2021
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Infrastructure ,
Methane ,
Natural Gas ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Storage Tanks ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Join V&E environmental lawyers Matthew Dobbins, Corinne Snow, and Patrick Traylor as they host a CLE via webcast on the EPA’s new proposed rule for methane from the oil and gas sector, provide an update on air enforcement and...more
On March 31, 2021, President Joe Biden announced the American Jobs Plan (the Plan). The Plan proposes approximately $2 trillion in government funding over the next decade focused on infrastructure, the electric grid,...more
4/5/2021
/ Broadband ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Earth Day ,
Energy Efficiency ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Historical Landmarks ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment ,
Joe Biden ,
Oil & Gas ,
PFAS ,
Power Grid ,
Public Transit ,
Roads ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Credits ,
Transportation Industry
As discussed in this previous post, the state of methane regulation for the oil and gas industry has been in flux over the past few years as federal regulations issued by the Obama administration were challenged in court and...more
4/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Methane ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Trump Administration ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
The U.S. energy industry faces uncertain times. The triple hit of depressed oil and natural gas prices, reduced demand resulting from a global pandemic, and an economic recession have battered producers. Against the backdrop...more