CO2 emissions Archives

Oct 21, 2020

EPA Proposes New Aircraft Emission Standard

For the first time, the EPA has proposed a rule setting an emission standard for nearly all commercial aircraft for greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA’s proposed standard closely follows the standard adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2017, which was the world’s first global design certification standard governing CO2 emissions for aircraft. The EPA standard would apply to all covered aircraft for which a new design type certificate is requested on or after January 1, 2020, and would apply to in-production aircraft beginning January 1, 2028. The proposed rule is expected to have little impact on manufacturers as… Read more

Oct 2, 2019

DC Circuit Provides Split Guidance on Wehrum Memo

In an August 20 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that an EPA guidance document (the “Wehrum Memo”) providing that “major” sources of toxics air emissions can be reclassified as “area” sources if they reduce their emissions below the “major” source threshold is unreviewable in court because it is not a final agency action. Writing for the majority, Judge Robert Wilkins stated that the issue is governed by the two-prong test established by the 2016 Supreme Court opinion in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. To be reviewable in… Read more

Feb 28, 2018

Congress Reauthorizes Tax Credit For Buried Carbon Dioxide

In a bill signed into law on February 9, Congress expanded a tax incentive program responsible for more than a billion dollars in tax credits awarded to oil companies for burying carbon dioxide underground. Both environmental and industry groups support the move which encourages emitters of carbon dioxide, such as power plants, ethanol factories, steel mills, and refineries, to capture their CO2 emissions and bury them underground for storage, or pump them underground to help oil companies extract more crude from aging reservoirs. The credit allowed for captured carbon dioxide was worth as much as $20 per ton and was… Read more