Policy

Viewing page 43 of 46

• A Good First Step – But We Have a Long Way to go on Oil and Gas

  Earlier this week USEPA took a long-awaited and critical first step to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas is the largest industrial source of methane pollution, and the standards for methane will also reduce pollution that causes ozone smog…

  Policy August 22, 2015

• Voluntary Measures: An Inadequate Solution to a Pressing Problem

  Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its new “Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program,” a collection of voluntary measures aimed to reduce methane pollution from existing sources. In January, as part of its announced plan to reduce oil and gas industry methane emissions 40-45% by 2025, the Administration committed…

  Policy July 23, 2015

• MATS Isn’t Dead Yet – An Assessment of the Supreme Court’s Michigan v. EPA decision

  The death of EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule has been greatly exaggerated by the popular media following the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday in Michigan v. EPA].  In fact MATS is NOT dead, and only EPA’s initial decision that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate coal and…

  Policy July 2, 2015

• White House Wisely Rejects the “Categorical Carbon Neutrality” of Biomass—But What Now?

  The White House Office of Management and Budget released a Statement of Policy this week detailing the many reasons why President Obama would veto H.R. 2822, a 2016 appropriations bill for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior put together by the Appropriations Committee in the House…

  Policy June 26, 2015

• Five Actions EPA Should Take When Issuing Much-Needed Methane Pollution Standards

  In January, EPA committed to a series of actions to reduce methane pollution, including setting nationwide methane standards for new and modified oil and gas equipment. Currently, there are no national limits on the amount of methane pollution that the oil and gas industry can release into the air. If…

  Policy May 21, 2015

• Grasping at Straws: A flimsy argument to attack upcoming EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants

  Recently, a number of industry lawyers have been grasping at straws in an attempt to tell EPA it can’t regulate the most significant source of U.S. domestic greenhouse gases — emissions from existing coal-fired power plants – under the Clean Air Act.  Even last week, Sidley Austin attorney Roger Martella’s…

  Policy November 4, 2014

• EPA’s Proposed Rule for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Existing Power Plants is a Good Opening Bid

  Nearly a year ago, the Obama Administration released the President’s Climate Action Plan reaffirming the U.S. commitment to reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050. This week, EPA proposed the second pillar in that plan, a carbon pollution…

  Policy June 7, 2014

• Regulation Is Needed: Making “Best” Practices Standard Practice

  The recent release of the Administration’s comprehensive strategy for reducing methane emissions raises the question of how best to reduce methane emissions, especially from the oil and gas sector. Can voluntary programs really lead to the methane reductions we need, or are mandatory regulatory programs necessary? While voluntary programs can…

  Policy April 15, 2014