Photo of Keturah A. Brown

Keturah A. Brown

Subscribe to Keturah A. Brown's Posts
Contact:Read more about Keturah A. Brown

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order entitled, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a proposed rule taking aim at greenhouse gases (GHG) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions from new and existing oil and natural gas production, processing, transmission, and storage facilities.  The proposal contains three basic components.  In a break with precedent, EPA did not provide proposed regulatory language.

First, the proposed rule would revise the new source performance standards (NSPS) for GHGs and VOCs for new, modified, and reconstructed sources, including the production, processing, transmission, and storage segments.  Specifically, EPA proposes to a new subpart OOOOb that would update and expand the current requirements under CAA Section 111(b) for methane and VOC emissions from sources constructed, modified, or reconstructed after November 15, 2021.  NSPS OOOOb would include standards for emission sources not regulated previously under the 2016 NSPS OOOOa.  Among other changes, EPA proposes to apply to VOC emissions thresholds to storage vessel tank batteries as opposed to individual storage tanks.  EPA has also suggested a change to the definition of legal and practical enforceability which could impact the utilization of state-level permitting previously used to reduce the potential to emit to below the 6 ton per year VOC-threshold.

Second, the proposed rule would create a new subpart OOOOc that would contain the first nationwide emissions guidelines (EG).  The EG would be a state model rule that states could use to develop, submit, and implement state plans that establish performance standards to limit GHGs from existing sources.Continue Reading EPA issues proposal to reduce GHGs and VOCs from new and existing oil and natural gas sources

On Wednesday, April 28, the U.S. Senate voted to effectively reinstate Obama-era methane regulations by approving a resolution nullifying the Trump-era methane emission rule “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review.”  The September 2020 Trump Administration rule rolled back Obama-era oil and gas emission rules by rescinding methane…

Organizations closely scrutinizing PFAS, like the Environmental Working Group, are touting loudly that the Biden administration will address PFAS and speculating on how the Biden Administration might approach the chemicals by setting enforceable drinking water limits, designating the substances as hazardous and finding PFAS substitutes for consumer items.

Under President Trump, EPA touted its…

President Elect Joe Biden announced his agency review teams. Agency review teams are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power. The Biden team states, “[t]he teams have been crafted to ensure they not only reflect the values and priorities of the incoming administration, but reflect the diversity of…

On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden became the projected President-elect of the United States. With an aggressive climate change plan that includes rejoining the Paris Agreement on the first day of his term, President-elect Biden and his administration will likely make significant changes to environmental, health, and safety rules and policies that will rollback Trump administration environmental actions and increase civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws.

New Regulatory Rollbacks and Expansions

The Trump administration took deregulatory actions that weakened or repealed more than 100 environmental policies and regulations.  For example, President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which set targets for greenhouse gas emissions for existing power plants, was repealed and replaced with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which removed emission targets and directed states to determine the best course of action for regulating power plant emissions.  The Trump administration issued the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule, which authorized the Department of Transportation to establish fuel economy standards and preempted similar state regulations, including California’s regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions for new passenger cars and light trucks.  The Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule significantly narrowed the “Waters of the United States” Rule under the Clean Water Act.  Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed Obama-era methane and volatile organic compound emissions standards for new and existing oil and gas operations, and removed the most stringent requirements of newly promulgated revisions to the Risk Management Program rule.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), meanwhile, largely stalled new rulemakings that had been initiated under the Obama administration, including the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, and has so far declined to initiate a rulemaking in response to COVID-19 under the current administration.Continue Reading Swinging the Pendulum: Significant Shifts in Environmental and Safety Regulation under a Biden Administration

Earlier this month, the White House Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized its update of the governing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rule.  This marks the first comprehensive review of NEPA since its 1978 promulgation. Entitled, “Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act,” it seeks…