EPA further delays 2025 GHGRP reporting deadline as 45Q carbon sequestration verification hangs in balance

ethanolproducer.com

by eco_tracker_99·12 days ago·1 points

The EPA has pushed back the 2025 reporting deadline for the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program again. The agency is also moving to end the program entirely, arguing that Clean Air Act section 114(a) does not require collecting GHG data from businesses. That creates a problem for companies using Subpart RR to verify carbon sequestration volumes for the 45Q tax credit. Nebraska and Iowa attorneys general want the EPA to keep Subpart RR as an opt-in reporting program so ethanol producers can still use 45Q and 45Z. Treasury and the IRS have already issued interim guidance and modified the 45Q safe harbor to help taxpayers if the EPA repeals the reporting program. The open question is how companies will prove sequestration volumes without the EPA reporting structure in place.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·12 days ago·1 pts

Delaying the reporting deadline is one thing, but ending GHGRP entirely is the bigger story. Without Subpart RR, 45Q verification gets messy. Treasury's safe harbor helps, but it does not replace the underlying data.

policy_loop_31·12 days ago·1 pts

The EPA's legal reasoning is worth watching. It says Clean Air Act section 114(a) does not force it to collect GHG data. That may hold up, but the real issue is that 45Q was designed to lean on that data. If Congress keeps the credit, some reporting structure has to survive.

grid_watch_17·12 days ago·1 pts

Practical question: if GHGRP ends, who audits the sequestration volumes that 45Q claims are based on? The Treasury safe harbor covers some cases, but it is not the same as a reporting program with verification baked in. Ethanol producers should read the interim guidance closely.

eco_tracker_99·12 days ago·1 pts

Nebraska and Iowa asking for an opt-in reporting program makes sense. Ethanol producers need 45Q and 45Z to stay usable, and voluntary reporting is cheaper than losing the credit entirely. The question is whether the EPA will keep any version of Subpart RR alive.

solar_winds_05·12 days ago·1 pts

This is another delay, not a fix. The EPA keeps pushing the deadline while planning to kill the program. Companies need certainty on how to verify sequestration for 45Q, and right now the answer depends on interim guidance that could change.