In Executive Order 14008, President Joe Biden made climate change a priority of his administration and established a goal of net-zero emissions economywide by 2050. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken aggressive steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across industry sectors. In the last few months, the EPA has finalized several regulations pertaining to GHG emissions, including revising the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (GHGRR); issuing new source performance standards (NSPS) applicable to fossil-fuel powered power plants; and finalizing updated standards applicable to the crude oil and natural gas sector. This article provides an overview of these three recent EPA actions.

Revisions to the EPA’s GHG Reporting Program

On April 25 and May 14, the EPA revised the GHGRR to expand the scope and accuracy of GHG reporting. 89 Fed. Reg. 31805 (Apr. 25, 2024) and 89 Fed. Reg. 42062 (May 14, 2024). The revisions primarily pertain to Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills and Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems, codified in Subparts HH and W of 40 CFR, Part 98, respectively. The EPA also added five subparts, bringing the following industries within the program’s purview: geological sequestration of carbon dioxide; coke calciners; calcium carbide production; caprolactam, glyoxal, and glyoxylic acid production; and ceramics production.