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As a follow up to yesterday’s post, President Trump’s Energy Independence Executive Order (the “Order”) has now been posted on the White House website, a summary of which can be found here.  Over the last week, many pundits and industry insiders have speculated on its contents, with many having a fairly clear crystal…

Section 1 of the Order sets forth various policy objectives, many of which (e.g., clean, reliable, affordable, safe energy) are goals that should garner bi-partisan support.  How these policies are interpreted by the various heads of agencies will be one factor guiding America’s energy future.  Another policy factor may be critical, contained in section 1(d), that “all agencies should take appropriate actions to promote clean air and clean water for the American people, while also respecting the proper roles of Congress and the States concerning these matters in our constitutional republic.”  This interplay between various states’ initiatives (and those states’ renewable portfolio standards) and the direction in the Order may impact the overall direction and tone set in the Order.
Continue Reading Brief Overview of President Trump’s Energy Independence Executive Order

President Trump and four executives of his administration held a press conference this afternoon in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA’s”) Map Room. Rick Perry (Secretary of Energy), Ryan Zinke (Secretary of Interior), Scott Pruitt (EPA Administrator), and Vice President Michael Pence provided opening remarks, flanked by coal mining representatives.  Secretary Perry started by noting it…

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill (SB) 32 into law, extending and expanding California’s 10-year old greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions mandate under Assembly Bill (AB) 32.  SB 32 provides for a 40% reduction in GHG emissions from 1990 levels by 2030.  This builds on AB 32’s existing mandate to reduce statewide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  In negotiations to pass SB 32 in the final weeks of the state legislative session, the bill was trimmed to add only one sentence to existing statute, to insert the 2030 target.  Left unaddressed was one question of the moment, can the cap and trade program authorized by AB 32 legally continue past 2020?  The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has its own answer to the question, the subject of this earlier post.  The courts will no doubt end up as the final arbiter.  Whether post-2020 GHG emissions reductions are met through a cap and trade program or other screws and hammers in ARB’s toolbox, the 2030 target is now written into law, rather than just Executive Order B-30-15.

The vital component of the compromise to pass SB 32 was companion bill AB 197.  AB 197 establishes legislative oversight of ARB’s actions to implement AB 32 and SB 32, by creating a Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies and adding two ex officio nonvoting members to the Board.  AB 197 also puts a new twist on ARB’s broad authority to adopt rules and regulations to achieve emissions reductions.  AB 32 requires ARB to achieve maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective emissions reductions from sources or categories of sources.  AB 197 further requires ARB to prioritize direct emissions reductions, including from large stationary sources and mobile sources, when adopting rules and regulations to achieve reductions.

In addition to headliner SB 32, the Legislature passed one additional bill with direct emissions reduction mandates, SB 1383.…

Continue Reading California Continues Ambitious Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Stoel Rives partner Tom Wood reports:

Minutes ago EPA announced its long awaited “endangerment” and “cause or contribute” findings in relation to six key greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.  While technically this announcement is of limited significance (applying only to motor vehicle emissions), the policy import of…