Reconsideration of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program

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EPA’s 9/16/2025 proposal would eliminate federal reporting obligations under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for a wide range of industrial sectors and suspend most remaining requirements until 2034.

The proposed rule would permanently remove reporting obligations for 46 source categories after reporting year 2024 — including stationary fuel combustion, electricity generation, aluminum and cement production, petroleum refining, pulp and paper manufacturing, municipal solid waste landfills, wastewater treatment, and industrial GHGs. It would also eliminate requirements for suppliers of carbon dioxide, geologic sequestration, and carbon injection activities.

For the petroleum and natural gas industry, EPA proposes to defer reporting for nine oil and natural gas segments until 2034 — including onshore and offshore production, natural gas processing, transmission compression, pipelines, underground storage, and liquefied natural gas storage, import, and export facilities.

See the proposal in the Federal Register at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-09-16/pdf/2025-17923.pdf

A First in Settlement Enforcement, What You Need to Know!

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Did you know that there is rulemaking regarding accidental release reporting of hazardous materials to the Chemical Safety Board (CSB)?  According to the Clean Air Act, Section 112(r), owners/operators of facilities are required to report accidental releases of hazardous materials that result in significant property damage, serious injury, or fatality to the CSB.  The Clean Air Act empowers the EPA to establish enforcement actions against entities that fail to report an accidental release.  The first of its kind enforcement actions were levied against Pacific Gas and Electric Company on July 28, 2025.

The incident involving the enforcement action occurred on June 8, 2023, when a pipeline worker suffered serious injury due to an accidental release of natural gas.  The CSB was aware of the incident and advised the company to complete the accidental release report, but they failed to do so.  The CSB then turned the incident over to the EPA for enforcement.  The cooperative effort resulted in a civil penalty of $45,273 and the company had to submit the report to the CSB.

This may end up being the first and only collaborative enforcement action of this type as the Federal Government is proposing to shut down the CSB by October of this year.  If the CSB is shutdown, the rule will likely be amended to address accidental reporting procedures for the EPA. For more information, you can read the EPA news release on the settlement here.  To review the reporting rule, click here.

Washington DNR Burn Ban

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Effective Friday, June 6, 2025: The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued the following:

  • Silvicultural debris burning by rule on DNR jurisdiction is not allowed.
  • Silvicultural debris burning by permit on DNR jurisdiction is allowed, subject to conditions on the permit.
  • Campfires are allowed in approved designated campgrounds only.

For more information, visit DNR’s burn restrictions webpage.

Revised Construction Stormwater General Permits

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Both the Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology have revised Construction General Stormwater Permits to implement City and County of San Francisco v. EPA (2025), in which the Supreme Court found that end-result requirements, such as permit terms prohibiting discharges that contribute to a violation of a water quality standard in a receiving water, are unlawful.

On April 15, 2025, EPA published its final action, narrowly modifying the 2022 CGP under the CWA. The CGP modification expands the list of areas eligible for coverage, including construction projects that discharge to receiving waters within Lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction. The modified CGP added new permit conditions applicable to Lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction, which prohibit stormwater discharges that contain i) observable deposits of solids, scum, sheen, or other substances; ii) an observable film, sheen, or discoloration from oil and grease; or iii) foam or substances that produce an observable change in color, odor, or cloudiness in the discharge. EPA maintains that these “final water quality-based limitations” are valid because they “tie compliance to the condition of the discharge (not the receiving water).”  The modified permit and Fact Sheet can be found here.

On March 19, 2025, Ecology published a proposal to update the 2021 CSWGP, which expires Dec. 31, 2025.  The draft CSWGP proposes several changes including expressing that “end-result” prohibitions no longer apply, requiring that all site inspections (e.g. weekly) will need to be conducted by a Certified Erosion Sediment Control Lead (CESCL), requiring weekly sampling for either turbidity or transparency and weekly sampling for pH at construction sites 1-acre or less, requiring daily turbidity effluent limitation sampling for dewatering discharges to certain impaired water bodies, and dissolved oxygen impairments will trigger a numeric effluent limit for turbidity. Public comments are being accepted until May 9th.  The proposed permit and Fact Sheet can be found here.