Status of EPA’s Compliance With Biden’s Executive Orders on the Environment

Immediately upon taking office, President Joe Biden took a series of actions aimed at improving public health and protecting the environment. Biden ordered executive agencies to perform sweeping reviews of existing regulations promulgated during President Donald Trump’s tenure and, for certain regulations, imposed deadlines for the proposal of new regulations. This article provides a brief overview of the progress that the EPA has made to date in complying with Biden’s executive orders and provides an update to the regulated community about recent and impending rule changes.

New and Reconsidered Rules

Among the EPA’s earliest required actions was to address emissions from the oil and gas sector. Consistent with this directive, the EPA is moving forward with amendments to the new source performance standards (NSPS) for the crude oil and gas sector under Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 111(b) and the establishment of emission guidelines for the oil and gas sector under CAA Section 111(d). Together, these actions are expected to establish comprehensive standards addressing emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds from new and existing operations in the oil and gas sector, including the exploration and production, transmission, processing and storage segments. On Sept. 13, the EPA submitted a notice of proposed rulemaking to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of its intent to revise the NSPS standards for crude oil and gas sector, with the goal of promulgating a final rule by October 2022. See OMB, RIN: 2060-AV16. In addition, the EPA submitted a notice of proposed rulemaking to OMB on Sept, 15, to promulgate emission guidelines for the oil and gas sector. See OMB, RIN: 2060-AV15. An anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking was expected in October 2021 with a final rule in October 2022. Although the EPA has not yet released the proposed rules for public comment, they will likely go beyond the regulations and guidelines put in place by the Obama administration in 2012 and 2016 and impose stricter emission standards on the oil and gas industry.