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Despite the Biden administration’s public support for carbon capture and sequestration (“CCS”), we saw neither faster CCS permit approvals from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) nor a significant push towards state primary enforcement authority (“primacy”) during the former president’s tenure.

On December 17, 2024, the Office of Fossil and Carbon Management of the Department of Energy (“DOE”) released the long-awaited Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”) Export Study (“Study”). The Study was released 11 months after the Biden administration paused pending decisions to export LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) countries on January 26, 2024.

On May 29, 2024, the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued proposed regulations (REG-119283-23) (the “proposed regulations”) regarding the clean electricity production tax credit and the clean electricity investment tax credit provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”)¹ and available under new sections 45Y and 48E, respectively, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a host of new requirements for fossil-fueled power plants, including new source performance standards (“NSPS”) for new and modified coal- and gas-fired plants and emission guidelines for existing coal-fired plants.

On December 28, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) granted Louisiana primary enforcement authority (“primacy”) under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act’s (“SDWA”) Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program to permit Class VI wells, which became effective on February 5, 2024.

Last week, the Governor of New Mexico signed House Bill 41 (“HB 41”) into law, establishing the Clean Fuel Standard (“CFS”), which, similar to programs in California, Oregon, and Washington, focuses on reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels.

On August 10, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued final regulations (the “Final Regulations”) providing additional guidance to taxpayers on the “Low-Income Communities Bonus” (“LICB”) available under section 48(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

On February 13, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”), along with the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) and the Department of Energy (the “DOE”), issued Notice 2023-18 (the “Notice”), establishing a program under section 48C(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to allocate $10 billion of tax credits for qualifying investments in eligible advanced energy projects (the “Advanced Energy Project Credit”).

On August 12, 2022 – a little over two weeks after the legislation was announced and five days after it passed the Senate – the House passed the historic Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Act”).

In this program, Vinson & Elkins lawyers walk through notable climate and energy programs and clean energy tax provisions in the Act and unpack what this means for the future of renewable energy in the U.S.

On July 27, 2022, only a few hours after the Senate approved a bipartisan semiconductor and technology package, Senator Manchin made a stunning and well-timed reversal of his prior position and confirmed his support for various climate and energy programs. Senate Democrats (led by Senators Manchin and Schumer) quickly made legislative text available and submitted it to the Senate Parliamentarian for review.