Thomas Aird

Sep 3, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Thomas Aird |George Hopkins |Milton Padilla

In a unanimous opinion, a panel of judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “D.C. Circuit”) vacated four key aspects from a 2022 rulemaking by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) because PHMSA failed to comply with its own requirements for rulemakings.1 A fifth rule was allowed to stand.

May 10, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Thomas Aird |Jason G. Fleischer |Eric Groten

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a host of new requirements for fossil-fueled power plants, including new source performance standards (“NSPS”) for new and modified coal- and gas-fired plants and emission guidelines for existing coal-fired plants.

May 2, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Corinne V. Snow |Thomas Aird |Matthew Dobbins |George Hopkins

New and additional bonding requirements for certain companies operating on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) will take effect in June as a result of a recent rulemaking. These new requirements will be phased in over a three-year period for subject companies. For companies subject to this requirement and that must provide the additional financial assurance, the total amounts that are required to be posted could increase by as much as $6.9 billion.

Mar 4, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Thomas Aird |Alexis Boyd |Matthew Dobbins

Currently, 42 Class VI applications remain pending with various EPA regions, many of them originally submitted in 2021. On the primacy front, Texas continues to move slowly towards primacy, with Arizona and West Virginia still in the “pre-application” phase of federal review. To date, EPA has only issued four Class VI permits out of Region 5, although Region 9 published a draft Class VI permit for review last year. Two of those four Class VI permits took six years to obtain.

Feb 21, 2024 | jdsupra.com | Thomas Aird |Matthew Dobbins |Kelly Rondinelli

Universal traits of all low carbon/clean fuel standards include establishing annually decreasing carbon intensity (“CI”) targets for certain covered transportation fuels against a set baseline coupled with a credit market. Fuels generated within the state with a CI below the applicable target generate credits, while those with a CI above the applicable target generate a deficit. With respect to the New Mexico CFS, however, HB 41 is incredibly light on details.