In September 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter “EPA”), armed with data independently obtained by a group of researchers at West Virginia University, accused Volkswagen Corporation of “cheating” on emissions tests. Specifically, the allegation charged that Volkswagen had equipped certain models of their diesel engine vehicles with “defeat devices” – software on the vehicles that could detect when the vehicle was undergoing emissions tests, and subsequently regulate the amount of emissions that would be produced during the testing phase.

One state is helping cleaner fuel standards become the norm across the country, supported by a recent federal court ruling.  In 2009, Oregon authorized the Clean Fuels Program to combat climate change caused by automobile emissions. The goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels by ten percent over a ten-year period by requiring oil companies to gradually reduce their carbon pollution. The companies have a few options to meet this goal: blend lower-carbon fuels, or simply invest in a variety of other clean fuels.

Recently, in the case of Appalachian Land Co. v. EQT Production Co., the Supreme Court of Kentucky considered a certified question of law from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, namely: Does Kentucky's "at-the-well" rule allow a natural-gas processor to deduct all severance taxes paid at market prior to calculating a contractual royalty payment based on "the market price of gas at the well," or does the resource's at-the-well price include a proportionate share of the severance taxes owed such that a processor may deduct only that portion of the severance taxes attributable to the gathering, compression and treatment of the resource prior to calculating the appropriate royalty payment?

In July, the Georgia Legislature enacted the Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act of 2015. The purpose of the Act is to encourage a more affordable use of solar power in Georgia by allowing residents and businesses to lease solar technology from third party solar panel companies. The Act ensures that residents and businesses do not have to bear the considerable initial cost of purchasing, installing, or maintaining the solar panels.

In 2015, the EPA adopted burdensome standards for fuel producers to attain in order to reach compliance credit requirements for the years 2006-2022. Thus, the EPA’s renewable fuel volume requirement may prove to be too strenuous on fuel producers and the United States economy in the coming years.