Final Amendments to Greenhouse Gas Reporting Regulations

In the last six weeks, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has promulgated two sets of revisions to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule as codified in Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 98 (40 CFR 98). The first revisions were published on April 25, 2024, and included revisions to 24 subparts of the rule, with the addition of five new subparts. The second set of revisions was published on May 14, 2024, and included significant revisions to Subpart W, with related changes to Subparts A and C. These amendments finalize the revisions that were proposed in June 2022, May 2023, and July 2023.

April 25^th Amendments for Data Quality Improvements

As part of the April 25^th amendments, U.S. EPA adopted changes to improve the accuracy and completeness of data collected reflecting changes in industry practices, improved calculation and monitoring methods, and expanding to include new source categories or new emissions sources for specific sectors. Specifically, U.S. EPA identified six types of revisions to improve the quality of the data collected under the final rule, including:

• Updates to the Global Warming Potential (GWP) values in Table A-1, to reflect advances in scientific knowledge.
• Revisions to expand source categories or add new source categories to address potential gaps in reporting of data to improve the accuracy and completeness of U.S. GHG emissions.
• Updated emissions factors to incorporate new measurement data that more accurately reflect industry emissions.
• Revisions to refine existing emissions calculation methodologies to reflect improved understanding of emissions sources, or to incorporate more recent research on GHG emissions formation.
• Additions or modifications to reporting requirements to eliminate data gaps and improve verification of emissions estimates.
• Revisions to clarify requirements that were previously found vague, and editorial corrections or harmonizing changes to improve understanding of the rule.

The revisions to Table A–1 update the GWPs to include values agreed to under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and maintain comparability and consistency with the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks and other analyses produced by U.S. EPA. Specifically, the revisions update the chemical-specific GWP values to reflect GWPs from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). For certain GHGs that do not have GWPs listed in AR5, the amendments adopt GWP values from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). Table A-1 has also been updated to adopt AR6 GWP values for 31 fluorinated GHGs that have GWPs listed in AR6 but not in AR5. The most significant changes in Table A-1 are shown in the table below.

As previously mentioned, the April 25^th rule amended 24 of the 43 existing subparts to the rule to improve clarity and data quality.  The subparts that were amended include:

• A (General Provisions)
• C (Stationary Fuel Combustion Sources)
• G (Ammonia Manufacturing)
• H (Cement Production)
• I (Electronics Manufacturing)
• N (Glass Production)
• P (Hydrogen Production)
• Q (Iron and Steel Production)
• S (Lime Manufacturing)
• U (Miscellaneous Use of Carbonate)
• X (Petrochemical Production)
• Y (Petroleum Refineries)
• AA (Pulp & Paper Manufacturing)
• BB (Silicon Carbide Production)
• DD (Electrical Transmission & Distribution Equipment Use)
• FF (Underground Coal Mines)
• GG (Zinc Production)
• HH (Municipal Solid Waste Landfills)
• OO (Suppliers of Industrial Greenhouse Gases)
• PP (Suppliers of Carbon Dioxide)
• QQ (Importers/Exporters of Fluorinated GHGs in Equipment or Foams)
• RR (Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide)
• SS (Electrical Equipment Manufacture or Refurbishment), and
• UU (Injection of Carbon Dioxide).

The April 25^th amendments added five new subparts, for source categories not previously covered by the rule, including:

• VV (Geologic Sequestration of CO₂ with Enhanced Oil Recovery)
• WW (Coke Calciners)
• XX (Calcium Carbide Production)
• YY (Caprolactam, Glyoxal, and Glyoxylic Acid Production)
• ZZ (Calcium Carbide Production)

The U.S. EPA did not take final action on several subparts and proposed amendments. The subparts that were not finalized include:

• B (Energy Consumption)
• G (Ammonia Production)
• P  (Hydrogen Production)
• S (Lime Production), and
• HH (Municipal Solid Waste Landfills)

The final rules also did not include actions under subpart C (General Stationary Fuel Combustion) to revise the reporting for aggregated units or common pipe configuration that would have required additional information such as the unit type, maximum rated heat input capacity, and fraction of total heat input for each unit in the aggregation or common pipe configuration.

Amendments to Subpart W for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems

The May 14^th amendments are part of the three-part framework of the U.S. EPA Methane Emissions Reduction Program which was authorized as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. These amendments were focused on Subpart W, but also included related changes to the general provisions (subpart A) and the general stationary fuel combustion source category (subpart C). The final amendments include four categories of changes:

• Revisions to address potential gaps in reporting for specific sectors to ensure the reporting under Subpart W reflects total methane emissions from the affected facilities.
• Revisions to add new, or to improve existing emissions calculation methodologies to ensure the reporting under Subpart W is based on empirical data.
• Revisions to reporting requirements to improve verification and transparency of the data collected.
• Technical amendments, clarifications, and corrections to improve the clarity and accuracy of reporting.

The May 14^th rule changes include reporting requirements for sources such as nitrogen removal units, produced water tanks, mud degassing, crankcase venting, “other large release events,” that were previously unreported. These amendments also add reporting requirements for industry segments with emissions sources such as blowdown vent stacks, natural gas pneumatic device venting, dehydrator vents, acid gas removal units that were previously only required to be reported for some, but not all, of the industry segments in which those sources exist.

The “other large release events” category captures abnormal emissions events that are not accurately accounted for using existing methods in Subpart W. These amendments finalize a single release threshold of 100 kg/hr methane, which is simplified from the proposed rule, and specify that the only third-party information required to be considered under other large release events are the notifications sent by U.S. EPA through the Super-Emitter Program.

This final rule also incorporates provisions that allow advanced measurement approaches, such as satellites and remote sensing to help identify and quantify large release events, quantify emissions from completions and workovers with hydraulic fracturing, and determine flare efficiency.

Finally, the May 14^th rule allows facilities to use a consistent method to demonstrate compliance with multiple U.S. EPA programs, reducing the burden for facilities with affected sources under Subpart W that are also required to comply with the NSPS OOOOb or a state or Federal plan in 40 CFR Part 62 implementing EG OOOOc.

Effective Dates

The majority of the final provisions of both the April 25^th and May 14^th amendments will become effective on January 1, 2025, to be incorporated into reports prepared for the 2025 reporting year and submitted March 31, 2026. This applies to both current and newly reporting sources.

The first exception to this schedule is the adoption of the GWP revisions included in Table A-1. The second exception is the reporting under Subpart W for the quantities of natural gas, crude oil, and condensate produced and sold in the calendar year, for each well permanently taken out of production (i.e., plugged and abandoned). These provisions will apply to annual GHG reports prepared for calendar year 2024 and submitted on or before March 31, 2025.

The Subpart W final rule also allows reports to utilize optional new calculation methodologies for facilities that prefer to use them to quantify 2024 emissions earlier than required. This will afford facilities additional empirical data options to demonstrate the extent to which a waste emission charge (WEC) is owed for the first year of the WEC. U.S. EPA finalized these optional calculation methods to become effective July 13, 2024 (60 days after publication in the Federal Register) and provide reporters with the option to use these newly available calculation methods for their reporting year 2024 reports that are submitted on or before March 31, 2025.

Questions?

If you have questions about the revised GHG Reporting Rule, or need assistance understanding and implementing the changes, ALL4 can help. ALL4 has a team of experts in GHG reporting under Part 98 and other frameworks who can assist you with reviewing the impacts of these regulations on your facility or specific processes, identifying gaps, and implementing changes to stay in compliance. Reach out to your ALL4 project manager or Daryl Whitt to find the help you need. Daryl is available at dwhitt@all4inc.com or at (864) 894-1312.