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Climate Change Outline: Emissions Trading Legal Issues 2
This 15th chapter of our outline addresses legal issues that may arise in emissions trading.
Click here to view the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline - Part 15 (PDF).
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Categories: Climate Change
Climate Change Outline: Emissions Trading Legal Issues
This 14th chapter of our outline introduces the subject of emissions trading.
Click here to view the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline - Part 14 (PDF).
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Categories: Climate Change
Climate Change Outline: Securities Law Issues 2: SEC Interpretive Guidance
A second installment regarding securities issues, this 13th chapter looks at SEC’s Interpretive Guidance regarding climate change.
Click here to view the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline - Part 13 (PDF).
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Categories: Climate Change
Call for Information: Information on Inputs to Emission Equations Under the Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule
Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0964-0001
Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0964
EPA is publishing this call for information and public comment to solicit certain additional information pertaining to reporting of inputs to emission equations under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. In response to EPA's July 7, 2010 proposed confidentiality determinations for data required under the reporting rule, EPA received several comments that warrant in-depth evaluation of potential harm to businesses from possible public availability of some of this data.
Consistent with EPA's long-standing interpretation, EPA proposed that data elements in the inputs to emission equations data category meet the definition of emission data under 40 CFR 2.301(a)(2)(i) and therefore, under CAA section 114(c), could not be held as confidential once they were reported to EPA. EPA received numerous public comments on the July 7, 2010 CBI proposal and the July 27, 2010 supplemental CBI proposal.
Though the EPA is still in the process of considering these comments, they plan to complete their consideration of these comments and issue final confidentiality determinations for the Part 98 data elements that are not inputs to emission equations, which constitute approximately 75 percent of the data elements, in a separate final action.
However, EPA received comments that raise concerns regarding the public availability of data in the inputs to emission equations category. Almost all commenters from industry wrote that some or all inputs to emission equations (which include product compositions, raw materials used, fuel types and quantities, production volumes, and other process-specific information) are considered trade secrets or otherwise sensitive business information, and that making that information publicly available would cause them serious competitive harm.
Some commenters expressed concern that public disclosure of production volumes and process-specific information could give competitors insight into sensitive operational limits and process capabilities.
USEPA’s DRAFT “Integrated Cleanup Initiative”
EPA is soliciting public comment, through January 10, 2011, on its draft Integrated Cleanup Initiative Implementation Plan. While many actions identified in the draft plan are already underway, EPA will use the comments received to further evaluate and refine the plan. EPA’s discussion of the background leading to its draft “Integrated Cleanup Initiative,” and a full-text copy of the draft, can be accessed at EPA’s website by clicking here.
Climate Change Outline: Securities Law Issues
This twelfth chapter of the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline reviews EPA’s and the SEC’s views regarding securities law issues in the climate change arena.
Click here to view the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline - Part 12 (PDF).
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Categories: Climate Change
PSD and Title V Permitting Guidance for Greenhouse Gases; Notice of Availability and Public Comment Period
Notice is hereby given that the EPA has posted its guidance titled, "PSD and Title V Permitting Guidance for Greenhouse Gases'' on its significant guidance internet website.
Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0841-0003
Document Type: NOTICES
Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0841
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles; Proposed Rule
EPA and NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation, are each proposing rules to establish a comprehensive Heavy-Duty National Program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel efficiency for on-road heavy-duty vehicles, responding to the President's directive on May 21, 2010, to take coordinated steps to produce a new generation of clean vehicles.
Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0162-0002
Document Type: PROPOSED RULES
Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0162
NHTSA's proposed fuel consumption standards and EPA's proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards would be tailored to each of three regulatory categories of heavy-duty vehicles: Combination Tractors; Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans; and Vocational Vehicles, as well as gasoline and diesel heavy-duty engines. EPA's proposed hydrofluorocarbon emissions standards would apply to air conditioning systems in tractors, pickup trucks, and vans, and EPA's proposed nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions standards would apply to all heavy-duty engines, pickup trucks, and vans. EPA is also requesting comment on possible alternative CO2-equivalent approaches for model year 2012-14 light-duty vehicles.
Climate Change Outline: Risk Management Issue
Our eleventh chapter of the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline presents the assessment of issues from the standpoint of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, AIR Worldwide, and AER.
Click here to view the Andrews Kurth Climate Change Outline - Part 11 (PDF).
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Categories: Climate Change
Update - EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rules Expanded to Oil and Gas
Click here to read the Andrews Kurth e-alert on the expansion of the EPA’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting rule to the petroleum and natural gas industry.
Click here if you would like to subscribe to Andrews Kurth communications.
