Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rules: Summary of Proposed Changes

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has been working on updates to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (GHGRR) contained in 40 CFR Part 98 and published the latest proposed rule revisions on August 1, 2023. These revisions supplement May 2023 and June 2022 GHGRR proposed rule revisions.

Regulatory Background

This latest rule update comes in addition to several other revisions in 2022 and 2023. In June of 2022, the U.S. EPA proposed a rule revision to improve the quality of data collection and update confidentiality determinations. This first set of rule revisions aimed at technical corrections and data collection but also added one industrial sector not previously included.

After a period of public comment, the U.S. EPA published an amended proposed rule in May of 2023, revising and expanding on the June 2022 proposal, addressing new data submitted for several sectors and adding five more new industrial sectors. One of these newly proposed subparts, Subpart B, would require facilities to develop a written Metered Energy Monitoring Plan (MEMP) for purchased electricity and thermal energy products, including needing to specify certain recordkeeping activities for electric meters, including conformance status to certain American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards. Additionally, the data for the purchased electricity and thermal energy product must be reported in accordance with the requirements under §98.26 of the proposed rule. This May 2023 revision also proposed to update the global warming potentials (GWP) to be based on data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), published in 2014 in lieu of the current values which are based on AR4 (2007).

The latest (August 2023) proposed rule revisions are focused on extensive revisions to Subpart W to allow for fee calculation around methane emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which was signed into law in August 2022, included the “Methane Emissions and Waste Reduction Incentive Program for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems.” This section of the IRA requires the U.S. EPA to revise the requirements of Subpart W to ensure that the reporting under Subpart W is based on empirical data and accurately reflects total methane emissions from the applicable facilities within two years after the date of enactment of the IRA. These proposed revisions to Subpart W include amendments to the calculation methodologies and reporting requirements to address potential gaps in the methane emissions reported per facility under that Subpart.

Who is Affected?

Approximately 35 GHGRR Subparts have been touched by proposed revisions since the June 2022 changes. To read a discussion of the initial 23 affected Subparts from the June 2022 revisions, please refer to ALL4’s Chris Ward’s blog on the June 2022 proposed revisions.

In the May 2023 proposed rule, several subparts were revised in addition to the original June 2022 proposed changes, including:

• Subpart A (General Provisions)
• Subpart C (Stationary Fuel Combustion Sources)
• Subpart G (Ammonia Manufacturing)
• Subpart I (Electronics Manufacturing)
• Subpart N (Glass Production)
• Subpart P (Hydrogen Production)
• Subpart Y (Petroleum Refineries)
• Subpart HH (Municipal Solid Waste Landfills)
• Subpart OO (Suppliers of Industrial Greenhouse Gases)
• Subpart PP (Suppliers of Carbon Dioxide)
• Subpart UU (Injection of Carbon Dioxide)
• Subpart VV (Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide With Enhanced Oil Recovery Using ISO 27916)

Four other subparts (not in the original June 2022 proposed rule revision) have amendments to Part 98 in the May 2023 proposed rule revision:

• Subpart F (Aluminum Production)
• Subpart AA (Pulp & Paper Manufacturing)
• Subpart QQ (Importers/Exporters of Fluorinated GHGs in Equipment or Foams)
• Subpart RR (Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide)

Additionally, the May 2023 proposed amendments to add five new source categories to Part 98:

• Subpart B (Energy Consumption)
• Subpart WW (Coke Calciners)
• Subpart XX (Calcium Carbide Production)
• Subpart YY (Caprolactam, Glyoxal, and Glyoxylic Acid Production)
• Subpart ZZ (Ceramics Production)

Lastly, the following subparts were revised (again) in the August 2023 proposed rule:

• Subpart A (General Provisions)
• Subpart C (Stationary Fuel Combustion Sources)
• Subpart W (Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems)

Effective Date

There are several effective dates for the current proposed changes.

June 2022 Proposed Rule – The U.S. EPA originally intended for the proposed changes to become effective on January 1, 2023, for facilities to implement the changes beginning with reports for reporting year (RY) 2023 and submitted on April 1, 2024. Some limited cases with limited monitoring requirements would have allowed temporary use of best available monitoring methods (BAMM) for annual reports submitted for RY 2023. However, due to significant comments, the passage of the IRA, and additional revisions, that initial plan has been delayed and there are no current updates on a proposed date.

May 2023 Proposed Rule – The proposed changes would become effective on January 1, 2025, with changes implemented beginning with the annual GHG reports prepared for RY 2025 submitted on or before March 31, 2026. The one exception is in regard to the GWP amendments for current reporters, which would apply to annual GHG reports prepared for calendar year (CY) 2024 and submitted on or before March 31 2025.

August 2023 Proposed Rule – The U.S. EPA is proposing that all but one of the revisions would become effective on January 1, 2025, to be included for the 2025 reporting year submittal due on March 31, 2026. The exception would be the proposed reporting of quantities of fuel (natural gas, crude oil, and condensate produced) would also become effective on January 1, 2025, and reporters would include those provisions in the reports prepared for RY 2024 to be submitted by March 31, 2025.

Public Comment

The publication of the latest proposed rule in the Federal Register on August 1, 2023 marks the start of a 60-day comment period (ending October 2, 2023). Comments may be submitted through Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0234, via the Federal eRulemaking Portal or via mail to the appropriate U.S. EPA address.

Next Steps

ALL4 will continue to monitor the GHGRR proposed rule revisions and updates for a final rule. If your facility is subject to one of the affected subparts, ALL4 recommends reviewing the respective proposed rule for any industry-specific updates to the subpart you are subject to and any changes that affect data collection, calculations, or reporting. Also check the proposed changes to the GWPs and to Subpart B to see how the changes might affect your facility and energy data reporting. Finally, review your GHG Monitoring Plan to determine if any updates may be necessary.

If you would like to discuss your project or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your ALL4 Project Manager or to Corey Prigent at cprigent@all4inc.com.