Energy

EPA’s just-issued proposal to scuttle Obama-era methane controls for new and modified oil and gas facilities argues that such standards are “redundant” because existing limits on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an ozone precursor, also have the indirect effect of limiting methane.

Despite public critiques from the world’s largest oil and gas producers, many observers expect EPA to make an aggressive push to finalize its looming proposal to upend or eliminate the Obama administration’s direct methane rules for drilling equipment -- driven in part by a goal of precluding efforts by a future Congress to block it.

EPA is urging appellate judges to expedite their consideration of a host of suits challenging its Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) utility greenhouse gas rule that replaces the broader Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP), with the agency hoping to resolve its initial legal defense of the rule before President Donald Trump’s first term ends.

A government watchdog group is petitioning EPA to phase out the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF) at oil refining facilities under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) authorities, the latest in a series of actions to curb the use of the highly corrosive substance following several “near miss” incidents.