Waste Management, Inc. v. EPA

Waste Management, Inc. and three affiliates filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit seeking review of EPA’s November 2013 amendment of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (40 C.F.R. part 98).  The November 2013 <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-11-29/pdf/2013-27996.pdf">amendment</a> revised the global warming potentials (GWPs) of certain greenhouse gases to make them consistent with the GWPs used in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.  The GWP for methane was increased to 25 from 21.  In <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=EPA-HQ-OAR-2012-0934-0052&attachmentNumber=2&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf">comments</a> on the proposed rule, Waste Management expressed a number of concerns, including concerns about the rule’s retroactive application, concerns regarding the increased number of landfills that would be subject to the reporting requirements due to the increase in methane’s GWP, and concerns over the effect of the GWP revisions on the applicability of Title V and prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permitting programs.