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January 13-19, 2024
In this week's issue:
- Congress Adopts Continuing Resolution to Continue Federal Funding and Avert a Shutdown (January 18, 2024)
- EPA Issues Methane Fee Proposal (January 12, 2024)
- NACAA Meets with EPA OAR Leadership on Forthcoming Motor Vehicle Rules (January 16, 2024)
- Coalition of Organizations Urges “Substantial Strengthening” of PM2.5 NAAQS (January 16, 2024)
- States Challenge Amendments to Section 111(d) Implementing Rules in D.C. Circuit (January 16, 2024)
- FERC Issues Primer On Electric, Gas, and Oil Markets (January 15, 2024)
- Kerry to Step Down as U.S. Climate Envoy (January 13, 2024)
This Week in Review
![](https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/US-Capitol-5-437x328.jpeg)
Congress has adopted another Continuing Resolution (CR) that temporarily extends funding for federal government programs at FY 2023 levels, thereby avoiding a government shutdown of several federal agencies that would have begun after January 19, 2024 and a shutdown of the remaining agencies after February 2, 2024. The CR – H.R. 2872 – provides funding until March 1, 2024 for certain parts of the government and until March 8, 2024 for the rest (the latter group including EPA’s budget). The measure passed in the Senate by a vote of 77-18 and in the House by a vote of 314-108. Congress had adopted previous CRs on September 30, 2023 (the last day of the federal fiscal year) and November 17, 2023, which, as in this case, avoided government shutdowns at the last minute. Leaders in Congress have been negotiating on the specifics to be included in final legislation that will provide funding to federal agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year (ending September 30, 2024). Details on how those agreements may affect individual agencies’ budgets, including EPA’s, have not been announced. The House previously adopted legislation to provide FY 2024 funding for EPA on November 3, 2024, but the Senate did not take similar action. The House bill called for $6.17 billion for EPA, while proposed legislation before the Senate would have provided $9.9 billion (FY 2023 funding was $10.13 billion). Section 103/105 grants were $231.4 million in the adopted House bill and $249 million in the Senate proposal (FY 2023 was $249 million).
For further information:
and
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2872
EPA has issued a proposal (EPA Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0434) to implement a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) to assess a charge on large emitters of methane from the oil and gas sector that exceed levels set by Congress in the law. The proposed Waste Emissions Charge (WEC) was established by the IRA to drive near-term methane emission reductions from oil and gas facilities that report emissions of more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. It is intended to mobilize reductions ahead of those required by EPA’s December 8, 2023 regulations setting New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and Emissions Guidelines (EGs) for existing sources (see related story in the December 2-8, 2023 edition of NACAA’s Washington Update.) As directed by Congress, EPA’s Waste Emissions Charge would assess a fee that starts at $900 per metric ton in 2024, increasing to $1,200 for 2025, and $1,500 for 2026 and beyond. EPA’s proposed rule details how states and industry can compare data in the reporting program to the IRA language; timing of reporting and filing; criteria for exemptions; what flexibilities (like averaging and netting across facilities) are available; and details about payments for owner/operators. Facilities complying with the NSPS and EGs established in December 2023 would be exempt from the charge. The proposal also includes a Regulatory Impact Analysis with details about costs and benefits, which asserts that the program will result in roughly a million tons of methane reductions over the first three years of the program, after which the regulatory requirements of the Oil and Gas Methane NSPS and EG will come into effect for the sector. EPA will take comment on the proposal for 45 days following publication in the Federal Register.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/inflation-reduction-act/methane-emissions-reduction-program
and
https://www.epa.gov/inflation-reduction-act/waste-emissions-charge
Representatives of NACAA met with Joe Goffman, EPA’s Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), and members of his staff to discuss two rules of critical importance to NACAA that the agency intends to finalize in early March: the Phase 3 heavy-duty truck greenhouse gas rule and the multi-pollutant light- and medium-duty vehicle (LMDV) rule. Erik White (Placer County, CA) and Tracy Babbidge (CT), Co-Chairs of the NACAA Mobile Sources and Fuels Committee, highlighted NACAA’s views and recommendations on key issues related to the two programs, based on the association’s comments on EPA’s regulatory proposals. In addition to the air quality, public health and environmental justice needs for these rules topics discussed included the ever-evolving and vastly increasing feasibility, availability and cost competitiveness of zero-emission vehicles, the financial incentives provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and IRA, and the need for the final rules to reflect these factors. With respect to the final emission standards, NACAA argued that the stringency should be improved over the proposal for the Phase 3 rule and at least maintained for the LMDV rule. In particular, the LMDV PM2.5 emission standard should be finalized as proposed, both in terms of stringency and implementation date. Another topic discussed was infrastructure, including the tremendous state and local leadership and innovation in this regard. NACAA said that in the final rule, EPA should emphasize the sweeping, whole-of-government approach that the Administration is taking, the flourishing progress at the state and local level, and what can and will emerge from these efforts to successfully support the vehicles that manufacturers choose to produce to meet the performance-based emission standards. NACAA communicated that EPA should not add measures, such as an “off ramp” from the emission standards or a mid-term evaluation, which are unnecessary and, if anything, could drive a self-fulfilling prophecy. Also participating in the meeting were Sarah Dunham, Director of the OAR Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ); Bill Charmley, Director of the OTAQ Assessment and Standards Division; and Miles Keogh and Nancy Kruger, Executive Director and Deputy Director of NACAA, respectively.
For further information:
and
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/NACAA_Comments-LMDV_Multipollutant_NPRM-070323lh-1.pdf
A coalition of over 100 organizations sent a letter to John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation, and Michael S. Regan, Administrator of EPA, urging that they finalize “a substantial strengthening” of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter. Observing that “[t]he scientific evidence supporting our request has only grown stronger since the proposed rule was published,” the signatories note that three months have passed since EPA sent the final rule to the Office of Management and Budget for interagency review and that “we know that since it has been there, the Administration has been the target of a considerable pressure campaign from industry against the rule. That campaign rests on erroneous premises.” The organizations ask that the Administration “not yield” and, instead, “keep its commitments, follow the science, and, in doing so, promote environmental justice.”
For further information:
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/PM_NAAQS-Letter_to_EPAWH-011624.pdf
A coalition of 25 states, led by West Virginia, filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging EPA’s revisions to the Clean Air Act Section 111(d) implementing regulations published on November 17, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 80,480). The amendments included revisions to the timing requirements for state plans; the addition of flexibility mechanisms; and new requirements for meaningful engagement with the public. Notably, the rule established an 18-month timeline for state plan submittal (NACAA argued in its comments on the proposed rule that a minimum of 24 months would be needed, along with mechanisms to offer states extensions if necessary). In a press release announcing the lawsuit, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey asserted that EPA had disregarded issues raised in a joint comment letter submitted in February 2023 by most of the co-petitioners. “It’s either the EPA missed our letter or ignored our concerns,” he stated. “Rather than listen to our advice, EPA has doubled down – issuing a rule that vastly increases the EPA’s authority while imposing compliance obligations even stricter under the Clean Air Act.” The full list of Petitioners includes: the States of West Virginia, Oklahoma, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming; the Arizona Legislature; and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
For further information:
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/West-Virginia-v.-EPA-24-1009-PFR.pdf
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has released a primer for experts outside of utility regulation to understand the markets that it regulates in the energy sector, primarily electricity, natural gas, and crude oil. The January 2023 version of FERC’s “Energy Primer: A Handbook for Energy Markets Basics”, updates a manual released in 2012, and explores the workings of the wholesale markets for these forms of energy, as well as energy-related financial markets. The primer is written to be used either as a traditional text – read front to back – or as a reference guide. Consequently, some material is repeated in different sections and references are provided to other parts of the primer where a concept is addressed in greater detail. This resource may be valuable for policymakers whose work impacts and is impacted by energy markets, like clean air agencies.
For further information:
John Kerry, the top climate negotiator for the U.S. at the Conferences of the Parties for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and in bilateral international negotiations, will step down from the role in February 2024. Kerry was tapped to be the Biden Administration’s Presidential Climate Special Envoy on January 20, 2021. He was the U.S. Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017, represented Massachusetts for 28 years in the U.S. Senate, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. A successor has not been identified.
For further information: