13. Environmental Protection Agency · Notable

Remove the Super-Emitter Response Program and other third-party enforcement authority

Attempted

Printed page 424 13. Environmental Protection Agency

“Remove any regulations or requirements that confer on third parties any authorities that have been provided to EPA, such as the oil and gas supplemental, which created a Super-Emitter Response Program that allows third parties to act as EPA enforcers.”

What has happened

Apr 9, 2026 Attempted
The reconsideration EPA announced in March 2025 came out narrow. The final rule makes technical changes to flaring provisions and to net-heating-value monitoring for flares, and states that it does not finalize changes to any other aspect of the 2024 rule — leaving the Super Emitter Program, and the third-party role in it, in place.
- Reconsideration of Standards of Performance … Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review (final rule)
  Primary Executive branch Apr 9, 2026
Jul 31, 2025 Attempted
EPA pushed the Super Emitter Program back rather than removing it. An interim final rule extended compliance deadlines across the 2024 oil and gas standards and, in terms, "extend[ed] the date for future implementation of the SuperEmitter Program"; a second extension followed on 2025-12-03. The provision that lets certified third parties notify EPA of large emission events remains in the regulations.
- Extension of Deadlines in Standards of Performance … Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review — extends the date for future implementation of the Super Emitter Program
  Primary Executive branch Jul 31, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

The Super Emitter Program is a provision of the March 2024 oil and gas standards (NSPS OOOOb / EG OOOOc). EPA has twice moved its start date and has not removed it.
The final reconsideration of those standards, published 2026-04-09, is explicit that it “neither finalize[s] changes to any other aspect of the March 8, 2024, final rule, nor finalize[s] alterations to the substance of any emission standards within that final rule” — so the third-party notification mechanism survives the reconsideration EPA announced on 2025-03-12.
attempted rather than partial: a delayed program is still a program, and no authority conferred on third parties has been withdrawn.

Action: rescind
Object: Super-Emitter Response Program and third-party enforcement authorities
ID: 1066