As we look forward to 2011, the Environmental Team at Reed Smith will be on top of a range of environmental issues, but offers the following analysis of what we view, in no particular order, to be 11 key climate change or greenhouse gas-related issues likely to affect you and your business in 2011 – call it “11 Climate Change Issues for ’11.” This post focuses on regulatory and transactional issues and we will analyze the outcomes of GHG-related court challenges as they unfold. Please return to blog regularly for updates and analysis on these and many other issues.
The 11 climate change issues are listed below.
1. The Start of USEPA’s “Tailoring” Rule
Despite a lot of buzz, proposed bills and speculation, the U.S. Congress failed to comprehensively address GHG emissions last year. In filling the void, USEPA has taken several steps to regulate GHGs, including promulgation of the Tailoring Rule, the first rule under the stationary source provisions of the Clean Air Act controlling GHG emissions. It applies only to new and modified sources; certain larger GHG emission sources will be subject to permitting requirements for planned construction projects under the Tailoring Rule starting January 2, 2011. For further details on this and related issues, please contact Larry Demase, Lou Naugle, Todd Maiden, Harley Trice or Jennifer Smokelin.
2. The Application of USEPA’s BACT Guidance for GHGs
USEPA recently released a key piece of the GHG permitting puzzle, a guidance entitled “PSD and Title V Permitting Guidance for Greenhouse Gases.” With the January 2011 implementation of the Tailoring Rule requiring large industrial sources to obtain permits for GHG emissions, this guidance aims to assist permitting authorities in enacting GHG permitting programs. In particular, the 97-page document addresses Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) applicability to GHG and BACT (Best Available Control Technology), and other PSD requirements. The guidance also discusses Title V applicability requirements and GHGs, as well as permitting requirements for Title V permits with regard to GHGs. We’ve analyzed these BACT issues on our blog and discussed them in our quarterly climate change teleseminars. For further details on this and related issues, contact Larry Demase, Jennifer Smokelin or David Wagner.
3. With the Defeat of AB 23 in California, the State Continues to Pursue Cap and Trade
Proposition 23 would have suspended California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as AB 32. AB 32 is one of the most aggressive and forward-thinking environmental laws in the United States, and sets targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and obtain 33 percent of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2020. California's voters’ rejection of a ballot measure to effectively suspend the implementation of AB 32 means California remains on track to issue aggressive cap and trade regulation of GHGs come 2012. For further details on this and related issues, contact Todd Maiden, John Lynn Smith, or Eric McLaughlin.
4. SEC’s Corporate Disclosure Requirement Regarding Climate Change
Early last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to adopt interpretive guidance addressing public company disclosure standards in connection with climate change. While this interpretive guidance is not intended to impose new standards, it continues to serve as an important reminder for public companies, potentially as part of their disclosure controls and procedures, to assess whether climate change may have a material impact upon their business and financial condition. For further details on this and related issues, contact Lou Naugle or Jennifer Smokelin.
5. Following COP Failures in 2009 and 2010, Will 2011 Reverse the Trend?
This United Nations-sponsored conference of the parties (“COP”) in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 (also know as COP 15, as the 15th conference of parties under the UNFCCC) was thought to be the vehicle for a treaty on the reduction of GHG gases, but produced almost no significant results. Further, last month’s COP 16 did not seem to make any significant progress on major issues, but it did serve to affirm the UN as the venue for international climate action. With several UN climate meetings in 2011, including COP 17, we’ll again look for significant international agreement on climate issues in 2011. For further details on this and related issues, contact Larry Demase, Jennifer Smokelin or David Wagner.
6. Increasing Interest in Regulations Related to Carbon Capture and Storage
Although carbon dioxide (CO2) is a valuable and marketable commodity, there are several barriers to the near-term deployment of commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the United States. They include cost and the related lack of economic drivers, regulatory uncertainty, and an inadequate legal framework for CCS. There is, however, a growing federal interest in CCS, and Jennifer Smokelin recently discussed a few examples of this interest, including USEPA’s BACT guidance and a GHG reporting rule. In particular, a USEPA rule requires permit holders to create a CO2 monitoring, reporting and verification plan, and to report the amount of CO2 sequestered using a mass balance approach under the Clean Air Act. Regulated entities must collect data in 2011 and begin submitting reports to USEPA by March 31, 2012. Also, in 2011, look for more CCS activity on the state level, including recommendations in support of a comprehensive legal/regulatory framework for permitting proposed CCS projects in California. Internationally, we expect the International Energy Agency to work with countries to implement its CCS Model Regulatory Framework. To learn more about CCS issues, please contact Jennifer Smokelin or David Wagner.
7. Mandatory GHG Emission Monitoring and Reporting Requirements
GHG reporting requirements from certain sources that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of GHGs per year are due March 31, 2011. Douglas Everette addressed issues and problems to consider regarding GHG emissions monitoring and reporting in Reed Smith's 4th Quarter Climate Change Report. In addition to this rule and the GHG reporting requirements related to carbon capture and sequestration (discussed above), USEPA finalized a rule that requires the annual reporting of GHG emissions from qualifying facilities in the upstream oil and natural gas sector, including onshore production. USEPA is operating on an expedited timetable, requiring applicable industries under these rules to begin collecting data January 1, 2011, and begin submitting the first round of reports to USEPA by March 31, 2012. For more information on the rules, please go to Jennifer Smokelin’s post or send her an email.
8. Single Stationary Source Determinations for Oil and Gas Operations
Here’s an air issue of particular relevance to Marcellus Shale well sites: whether and to what extent air emissions from the exploration, extraction and production activities related to well sites should be aggregated. The aggregation of gas (and oil) activities by regulatory bodies will influence whether they must obtain a minor source permit or a major source permit for purposes of Title V permitting, new source review and prevention of significant deterioration. With respect to Marcellus Shale, the pollutant-emitting activities include individual compressor stations, such as internal combustion engines, boilers, and emergency generators, and multiple compressor stations connected by pipelines. In 2011, aggregation will be an issue related to USEPA’s upcoming air quality standards for ozone and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), technical guidance developed on the state level (including by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection), and the scope of the federal requirement to report GHG emissions for “all petroleum and natural gas equipment … located in a single hydrocarbon basin.” To discuss these issues, please contact Lou Naugle, Larry Demase, Jennifer Smokelin or David Wagner.
9. For the First Time, USEPA Will Issue GHG Emission Standards
Under a recent settlement filed in federal appeals court, USEPA will propose GHG emissions standards for power plants by July 2011 and for refineries by December 2011. The standards, known as New Source Performance Standards, would set the level of GHG emissions new facilities may emit and also address emissions from existing facilities. For more information, contact Larry Demase, Lou Naugle or Jennifer Smokelin, or visit Larry’s blog post on this development.
10. With the Approval of the Cape Wind Renewable Energy Project in Nantucket Sound, Other Approvals Are Expected in Late 2011
In early 2010, the federal government approved the Cape Wind energy project in Nantucket Sound, a $1 billion wind farm in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. According to the government, the Cape Wind project will generate enough power to meet 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island combined, and, as compared with conventional power plants, will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 700,000 tons each year. Building on the Cape Wind lease, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in November that it would work quickly to identify priority areas and expedite leases for offshore wind projects in the Atlantic Ocean. The first leases are expected to be offered in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusetts waters by the end of 2011, to be followed shortly thereafter by New York, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. For questions related to this issue, including applications for offshore transmission lines, please contact Larry Demase or David Wagner.
11. The Clean Development Mechanism and the Uncertainty in the Carbon Markets Created by HFCs
The United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanisn (CDM) allows industrialized countries to invest in emission reductions wherever it is cheapest globally, and certified emission reductions (CERs) are a type of carbon credit issued by the CDM Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects. In late November, the CDM Executive Board decided to revise the rules governing hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23) destruction on the basis that carbon credits related to HFC-23 are creating windfall profits and threatening the integrity of the carbon market. The CDM Executive Board’s decision came just days after a European Commission proposal to ban the use of HFC-23 in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as of January 2013. The Commission explained that “the acceptance of credits from industrial-gas projects has been controversial for some time. Certain gases [such as HFC-23] have a very high global-warming potential, and abatement is very cheap. This can create huge financial rewards for project developers.” A majority of CERs issued to date have come from HFC-23 projects, mostly in China and India, and these two countries, especially China, are not happy. As Larry Demase anticipated in Reed Smith's 3rd Quarter Climate Change Report, this issue is creating significant uncertainty and it could have a destabilizing effect on the CER market. To learn more, please contact Larry Demase or Jennifer Smokelin.