The Trump administration is offering coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities an opportunity to obtain exemptions from Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements designed to reduce emissions of chemicals such as mercury,...more
The Biden administration's rule requiring the payment of a fee for methane emissions has effectively been rescinded, although, for now at least, the statutory provision imposing the fee remains in effect along with other...more
The Biden administration introduced wide-ranging environmental regulations with profound and far-reaching effects on the environment and the economy. In its first two weeks, the Trump administration has signaled an attempt...more
With unified control of Congress and the White House, Republicans are primed to use the CRA to swiftly overturn regulations promulgated in the final months of the Biden Administration. The Congressional Review Act (CRA)...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday finalized tougher methane reporting standards that could increase the number of oil and gas companies that must pay fees for excess methane emissions....more
In response to critics who said that proposed new statewide water conservation rules — aimed at cutting urban water use even in years when California is not in a drought — were too complicated and costly, the State Water...more
[co-author:Leila Fleming] Good evening! This is Akin Gump’s weekly policy newsletter on climate change policy and regulatory developments, providing information on major climate policy headlines from this past week and...more
ESG is increasingly vying for airtime in oil and gas boardrooms as leaders grapple with how best tackle environmental, social and governance challenges. This follows a trend of ESG support throughout all sectors of the U.S....more
Overview - On November 28, the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed methane rule. This action furthers the Biden-Harris administration’s whole-of-government response to...more
Extensive negotiations focused on finalizing the details of a “rulebook” for an international carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The 27th annual Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations...more
Concurrent with commitments made during the twenty-sixth meeting of the United Nations’ COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden Administration released two significant policies aimed at analyzing and curtailing the...more
President Biden has signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by the Senate in August and the House of Representatives in November. With a price tag of $1.2...more
EPA proposes new emissions control requirements for new sources and existing sources and aims to reduce methane emissions by 74 percent by 2030. Regulations would require newly constructed oil and gas production facilities...more
After years of attempts with varying success to regulate methane emissions from new oil and gas wells, the Biden administration has shifted strategy in proposing a regulatory program covering both new and existing oil and...more
Last week, as world leaders met at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), issued a proposed rule under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) designed...more
On November 2, 2021, President Biden released the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan (the “Plan”). The Plan, calling for substantial reductions in U.S. methane emissions, was announced in tandem with an...more
On August 31, 2021, a federal district court in Missouri v. Biden, 4:21-cv-00287, 2021 WL 3885590 (E.D. Mo. 2021), dismissed a suit brought by the State of Missouri and 12 other states, challenging President Biden's Executive...more
A group of ten Republican AGs, led by Louisiana AG Jeff Landry, sued the Biden administration over an alleged violation of the Administrative Procedures Act by President Biden in issuing an executive order restoring Obama-era...more
As regulatory requirements and ESG reporting and transparency increase to address gas flaring, “clean fracs” could be one solution for upstream oil and gas companies towards an energy transition....more
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK - - Administration Proposal. President Joe Biden will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 31, where he will unveil the contours of the infrastructure package. Biden Preliminary Budget...more
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
Many stakeholders have called for the United States to adopt a carbon tax. Such a tax could raise billions of dollars in annual revenue while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Several carbon tax proposals were...more
The Carbon Quarterly is a newsletter covering developments in carbon policy, law, and innovation. No matter your views on climate change policy, there is no avoiding an increasing focus on carbon regulation, resiliency...more
While the texts of environmental laws do not change without an act of Congress, executive branch agencies that enforce those laws have a great deal of discretion in what kinds of violations to prioritize for investigation and...more
The social cost of carbon (SCC) has a checkered regulatory history spanning nearly 40 years, but it now has been thrust back onto the federal stage, front and center. Among President Joe Biden's first acts in office was a...more