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Partners Jenny Speck and Alan Alexander, and associate Hoo Ray are speaking at the RNG Coalition's Weekly Webinar on a panel titled "Legal Landscape of Financing and Developing RNG Projects" on April 30.

Partner Jenny Speck is presenting at the RNG Coalition’s RNG Summit on a panel titled “Trump Administration and the 119th Congress: Implications for RNG Tax Credits” on Wednesday, April 23, at 4:30pm CT.

The recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration mark a significant shift in U.S. trade policy that is expected to have a wide-ranging impact across multiple sectors, including in the energy sector.

On April 8 and 9, 2025, President Donald Trump issued five Presidential Actions (four Executive Orders and one Proclamation, collectively “Presidential Actions”) for the purposes of ensuring adequate and reliable energy generation, meeting growing energy demand, and addressing the national energy emergency declared on January 20, 2025 (EO 14156).

This update is a summary of the Energy-related Executive Orders that have been issued this week by the Administration.

If past is prologue, while the second Trump administration is expected to take a number of actions that could lead to increased volatility with respect to renewable identification number (“RIN”) prices just as the first did, there are signals that the administration may take a more deliberate approach this time to reduce shocks to the RIN market, all the more given the interest in supporting renewable fuel production as a domestic fuel source. And while the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) took steps last year that impact the ability of biogas projects to generate Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) credits, state legislative headwinds could eventually result in the opening of new environmental credit markets to shore up demand for renewable natural gas (“RNG”). Overall, while significant uncertainty and risk of RIN volatility remains, there continue to be signals from both the federal executive and legislative branches in support of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”).

For more than twenty years, the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), and later, the United States‑Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), have facilitated cross-border trade and investment among the United States, Mexico, and Canada through the elimination of virtually all financial barriers to trade.

On January 10, 2025, the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) continued their flurry of new guidance by releasing IRS Notice 2025-10 (the “Notice”) concerning the clean fuel production credit available under section 45Z of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code,” and such credit, the “Clean Fuel Production Credit”),¹ for certain clean fuels produced and sold between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027.²

On December 4, 2024, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued final regulations [TD 10015] (the “Final Regulations”) for the energy credit available under section 48 (the “ITC”) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

As Vinson & Elkins prepares to host its “Energy Transition and IRA Conference” in New York on November 7, 2024 (just two days after the upcoming presidential election), we ask ourselves, where have we been and where might we be going with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the IRA)?

Much has been written about the benefits of tax credit transfers following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but questions remain as to how to actually effectuate a transfer.

On September 18, 2024, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) (1) issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing guidance to taxpayers on the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit available under section 30C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“30C Credit”) and (2) released Notice 2024-64 (the “Notice”)¹ to correct certain technical issues related to mapping tools used to identify eligible census tracts for the 30C Credit.²