On Wednesday, April 10, President Trump signed an Executive Order seeking to expedite the permitting process for energy infrastructure projects by reforming the Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification process.
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EPA and Corps Release Long-Awaited Proposal to Redefine WOTUS
Last week, EPA and the Corps issued a long-awaited proposal to redefine the “waters of the US” (WOTUS) subject to federal regulation and permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act. The reach of the CWA is notoriously unclear, but knowing which areas on your property are jurisdictional and will require permits is critical to project planning and timelines. If finalized, the proposed rule would replace the Obama administration’s contentious 2015 WOTUS Rule and eliminate the regulatory patchwork that currently exists as the 2015 WOTUS Rule is being implemented in only certain parts of the country.
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Senate Confirms Susan Parker Bodine as New Head of EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Office
As reported in The Nickel Report, on Thursday, the Senate confirmed Susan Parker Bodine as the Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”). OECA, the chief enforcement arm of EPA, coordinates the agency’s enforcement of numerous federal environmental laws within its authority.
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D.C. Circuit: FERC to Decide Water Quality Certification Waiver for Natural Gas Pipeline Projects
As reported in The Nickel Report, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week dismissed an interstate natural gas pipeline company’s challenge to the State of New York’s delay in issuing a water quality certification under section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The case is one of several pending across the country that involve a state’s authority to issue, deny, or waive a CWA water quality certification for interstate natural gas pipeline projects.
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Final Rules Require Methane Monitoring at New and Modified Oil and Gas Facilities
In an effort to advance White House climate change targets, EPA recently finalized methane rules for new, heavily modified or reconstructed oil and natural gas facilities.
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Oil Spill Response Planning Developments
PHMSA’s oil spill response regulations have been subject to increased scrutiny by Congress, the NTSB and citizen groups since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and Marshall, Michigan incidents.
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BLM Proposes Sweeping Rules to Curb Methane Emissions
Consistent with President Obama’s “Climate Action Plan,” the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released proposed rules intended to significantly curb emissions from new and existing oil and gas production wells on federal and tribal lands. In total, BLM proposes to cut natural gas emissions (from both intentional and unintentional releases) associated with oil and gas wells on all federal public lands by 50%. This will be accomplished through modernizing the current regulations (which are over 30 years old) by requiring operators to adopt best practices and updated technologies.
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How Will EPA’s New Definition of “Waters of the U.S.” Affect Oil & Gas Pipelines?
Amid considerable controversy, the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers (the agencies) issued a Final Rule on May 27, 2015, re-defining and expanding the definition of jurisdictional “waters of the U.S.” under the federal Clean Water Act.
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New Research Indicates Decreased Methane Emissions from Distribution Pipelines
Regulators and researchers alike have long been trying to accurately estimate leakage rates from natural gas infrastructure, in order to understand the potential effects of such emissions on climate and human health.
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FERC Implements New Cost Recovery Policy for Gas Facility Modifications
Effective October 1, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will allow interstate natural gas pipelines to seek to recover certain capital expenditures involving changes to pipeline system infrastructure that enhance system reliability, safety and regulatory compliance.
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