EPA Speeds Timeline For Final Power Plant GHG Rule, Slows Methane Fee. According to Inside EPA, “EPA’s just-released regulatory agenda shows the agency is speeding its timeline for finalizing power plant greenhouse gas standards, even as it slows the schedule for a rule implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) methane fee. However, the latest agenda, released June 13, shows EPA remains on track to issue oil and gas methane emissions standards by August, and that it is sticking with its pledged timelines for finalizing multi-pollutant standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles and its proposed ‘phase 3’ GHG standards for heavy trucks. EPA is aiming to complete the truck rule by the end of the year and its multi-pollutant rule by March. EPA is now looking to finalize GHG standards for new power plants -- as well as guidelines for existing facilities -- by April, according to the Spring 2023 Unified Agenda. That speeds up the schedule by roughly three months, compared to the June 2024 date listed in the agency’s fall regulatory schedule.” [Inside EPA, 6/13/23 (+)]
Reps. Reschenthaler, Deluzio Introduce Bill To Reduce Mine Methane Emissions. According to Pennsylvania Business Report, “U.S. Reps. John Reschenthaler (R-PA) and Chris Deluzio (D-PA) are among a bipartisan group of lawmakers that introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that seeks to reduce mine methane emissions. The Methane Reduction and Economic Growth Act of 2023 (H.R. 3982) would amend section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code to qualify methane, which otherwise would’ve been released as a greenhouse gas emission, to be acquitted equivalent to the capture of CO2. In addition to reducing mine emissions, it seeks to create jobs, enhance energy security, and clean up local environments.” [Pennsylvania Business Report, 6/14/23 (=)]
What The First Net-Zero Military Base Could Mean For The Pentagon’s Future. According to the Washington Post, “The Department of Defense produces the most carbon emissions of any single institution in the world, but the military base in this rural corner of Georgia generates as much renewable electricity as it consumes. The leafy Marine Corps base in southwest part of the state, which has been working for years to build its renewable capacity, is the first in the military to reach its net-zero goal. Power plants generate electricity from natural gas captured at a nearby landfill, and from discarded tree bark and sawdust from a neighboring paper factory. Solar panels warm water for its barracks. Air that is chilled under the ground cools warehouses and other facilities.” [Washington Post, 6/14/23 (=)]
Oil Producers Say Tech Will Soon Handle Climate-Wrecking Fumes. US Envoy Kerry Says Be Skeptical. According to The Hill, “U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Tuesday urged the world to be ‘very skeptical’ about claims from oil and gas producers that emerging technology soon will allow people to adequately capture the climate-wrecking fumes emitted by their cars, planes and businesses. It’s ‘one big question mark,’ Kerry told The Associated Press of the future viability of carbon-capture technology, a debate at the heart of global negotiations on cutting emissions to stave off the most disastrous scenarios of global warming… ‘We can’t afford to play games anymore with the amount of fossil carbon that’s going up in the atmosphere,’ along with methane and other climate-damaging gases from the oil and gas industry.” [The Hill, 6/14/23 (=)]