Climate Law Blog

By Romany Webb On Thursday, August 13, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule rescinding the new source performance standards for methane emissions from facilities used in the production, processing, transmission, and storage of oil and natural gas. At the same time, EPA also rescinded the standard for volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions […]

By Amy Turner Earlier this year, I published on this blog about the wave of municipal natural gas bans enacted by municipalities in California and Massachusetts. At that time, two legal frameworks for these policies — which generally prohibit or restrict natural gas infrastructure in new buildings — had emerged. First, Berkeley, California used its […]

By Jennifer Danis On Tuesday, June 30, 2020, the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling en banc, held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s use of “tolling orders” could not block judicial review of its gas infrastructure certifications. The Commission created “tolling orders” to grant itself additional time to answer landowners’ pleas for rehearing.  But […]

By Romany Webb and Hillary Aidun On Monday, June 1, the Sabin Center submitted comments opposing a Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to categorically exclude natural gas export approvals from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA’s implementing regulations allow federal agencies to categorically exclude actions if, and only if, they “do […]

By Romany Webb A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), published on March 31, shows that global methane emissions from the oil and gas sector increased by nearly four percent from 2018 to 2019. That trend could continue in 2020 and beyond due, in part, to the economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 […]

By Romany Webb On Friday, November 22, the Sabin Center submitted comments opposing an Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposal to rescind regulations limiting methane emissions from new oil and natural gas facilities (the “Methane New Source Performance Standards” or “Methane NSPS”). The primary component of natural gas, methane is emitted throughout the oil and gas […]

By Romany Webb Last Tuesday, June 4, the D.C. Circuit decided the latest in a string of cases challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s approval of new interstate natural gas pipelines. The case – Birckhead v. FERC – focused largely on FERC’s obligation to consider the climate change impacts of pipeline development, which has […]

By Romany Webb On Tuesday, September 18, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized changes to its so-called Methane Waste Prevention Rule (“Rule”). The Rule, which was adopted in November 2016, aimed to prevent the loss of natural gas through venting, flaring, and leaks on public lands. BLM estimated that, as […]

By Romany Webb On Tuesday, September 11, EPA published proposed revisions to its New Source Performance Standards (2016 standards) for new and modified sources in the oil and natural gas sector. The standards, which were finalized in June 2016, formed a central plank of the Obama administration’s strategy for reducing methane emissions. EPA estimated that, […]

By Romany Webb The U.S. is currently in the midst of a natural gas boom, with production growing dramatically in recent years. The resulting glut of natural gas has led to a decline in prices which has, in turn, prompted increased gas use in electricity generation and other applications. Many see this as a positive […]