On March 28, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” with the stated policy of “promot[ing] clean and safe development” of domestic energy resources and ensuring an affordable and reliable supply of electricity, while “avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job creation.” Although the Executive Order does not itself withdraw any rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or other agencies, it clearly reflects President Trump’s intent to drastically change course from the Obama administration’s stance on climate change and to seek reducing environmental regulation of, among other sources of greenhouse gases, coal-fired power plants and oil and natural gas operations.
For more information, read our Administrative Watch.
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of several highly-anticipated regulatory measures affecting both existing and new emission sources in the oil and natural gas sector. EPA has released the pre-publication version of its final New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) rulemaking to reduce emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds from new, modified, and reconstructed sources. The agency received more than 900,000 public comments on the proposed NSPS rulemaking that was released in August 2015.
In March, EPA announced its intent to also regulate methane emissions from existing sources in the oil and natural gas sector. Today EPA issued a draft Information Collection Request (ICR) directing oil and natural gas companies to submit extensive information to support the development of a federal rule targeting existing sources. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days following publication of the draft ICR in the Federal Register. As a related measure, EPA will soon release a voluntary “Request for Information” inviting industry, government, and public interest stakeholders “to provide information on innovative strategies to accurately and cost-effectively locate, measure and mitigate methane emissions.”
Additionally, today EPA released the pre-publication version of its final Source Determination Rule aimed at clarifying the term “adjacent” for air permitting purposes. The final rule is intended to clarify when oil and gas equipment and activities constitute a single source that is subject to “major source” permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act. In general, according to EPA’s fact sheet, the final rule provides that pollutant-emitting activities are adjacent “if they are located on the same site or on sites that share equipment and are within 1/4 mile of each other.”
Finally, EPA also released the pre-publication version of a final Federal Implementation Plan rule to clarify air permitting requirements for oil and natural gas sources located in Indian Country, specifically.
On April 27, 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it has initiated an “unprecedented expansion” of the Commonwealth’s particulate matter air monitoring network to include additional monitors in areas near natural gas development. The expansion project will include 10 additional DEP monitoring stations and has a target completion date of fall 2017.
DEP plans to implement the expansion project in three stages, with one monitoring station added to each of 10 counties. DEP completed Phase 1 earlier this year with the addition of air monitoring stations in Towanda Township, Bradford County, and Holbrook Township, Greene County. The Department expects to complete Phase 2 by the end of 2016 by adding monitoring stations in Fayette, Indiana, Lycoming, Susquehanna, and Wyoming Counties. Phase 3 has a target completion date of fall 2017 and will include air monitoring stations in Clarion, Jefferson, and McKean Counties.
On April 7, 2016, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) announced a public comment period for a package of draft general permits for oil and natural gas midstream compressor stations. Applicants seeking coverage under a general permit would be required to demonstrate that the facility meets the general permit eligibility criteria. A general permit establishes pre-defined permit terms, including requirements relating to equipment installation, operating standards, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting. OEPA stated that the new general permits would authorize emissions from a wide variety of sources, including: natural gas-fired compressor engines; diesel engines; dehydrators; flares; compressors; equipment (pipes, pumps, etc.); liquid storage tanks; truck loading operations; and pigging operations. Comments are due May 18, 2016.
Last week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that OSHA may publish its final rule on occupational exposure to crystalline silica as soon as February 2016. Safety + Health Magazine further reports that OSHA has sent a draft of its final rule to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), one of the final steps prior to the publication of a final rule. The proposed rule was under OMB review for nearly two-and-a-half years. OSHA’s proposed rule would set a permissible exposure limit of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air, reducing the current limit for general industry in half, and set a permissible exposure limit of 250 micrograms for construction sites and shipyards. In addition, the rule also would require engineering controls to reduce exposure, air monitoring, medical surveillance, and worker training. The content of the final rule is not known, but may reflect changes in response to more than 2000 public comments received on the proposed rule.
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will host three public hearings in September regarding proposed Clean Air Act rulemaking actions that will affect the oil and gas industry. Two hearings will be held in Denver and Dallas on the same day, September 23, 2015. A third hearing is scheduled to be held on September 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh. The hearing in Pittsburgh will take place at the William S. Moorhead Federal Building downtown. For additional information about EPA’s proposed rules, check out our Administrative Watch: EPA Announces Clean Air Act Proposals Targeting the Oil and Natural Gas Sector.
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally announced its highly-anticipated proposal to regulate methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. Specifically, EPA is proposing to amend the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) rule for the sector, NSPS Subpart OOOO, to include standards for reducing methane as well as volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from sources located across the oil and natural gas source category (i.e., production, processing, transmission and storage). This proposal is part of the agency’s broader strategy for reducing emissions of ground level ozone-forming pollutants from the oil and gas sector. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register, and EPA is planning to host public hearings on the rulemaking. In conjunction with today’s announcement regarding the proposed NSPS revisions, EPA also announced proposed guidelines for states to follow in order to reduce VOC emissions from existing oil and gas sources located in areas where the ambient air quality does not meet certain thresholds with respect to ozone.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising important definitions in the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) rule for the oil and gas sector, NSPS Subpart OOOO, in response to stakeholder petitions. In a final rule published today, EPA is revising the definition of “low pressure gas well”, in order to identify the wells that cannot implement a reduced emission completion (otherwise known as REC or “green completion”) because of a lack of necessary reservoir pressure. EPA is also revising the definition of “storage vessel” to remove references to “connected in parallel” and “installed in parallel”, in order to clarify which storage vessels are subject to NSPS Subpart OOOO. The revisions are effective immediately.
This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a highly-anticipated proposed rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review that would address methane emissions in the oil and natural gas sector. Earlier this year, EPA announced its plan to initiate such a rulemaking as part of its methane reduction strategy. A second proposed rule was also reportedly sent to OMB for review this week – EPA is working on new definitions for certain regulatory terms associated with permitting sources in the oil and gas industry, in order to assist permitting agencies in making major stationary source determinations. Both of the proposed rules are expected to be published in the Federal Register in August.
Earlier this week the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released the 2013 air emissions inventory for the natural gas industry. Operators submit emissions data to DEP on an annual basis. Compared to 2012, the 2013 inventory includes data from 1,590 additional well sites and 33 additional midstream facilities. Despite an increase in the number of facilities reporting emissions data, the 2013 inventory shows a decrease in methane and carbon monoxide emissions compared to 2012. The 2013 inventory also shows increased emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds.
Earlier this week, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of a natural gas operator in a closely-watched case involving air aggregation issues. In 2011, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) filed suit alleging that Ultra Resources, Inc. (Ultra) constructed a major source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) without the appropriate New Source Review (NSR) permit. The case involved eight compressor stations in Tioga and Potter counties for which Ultra had obtained separate authorizations from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to use the General Plan Approval/General Operating Permit known as “GP-5”. PennFuture viewed the compressor stations as functionally interrelated, operating in concert with a metering station as a single facility with potential NOx emissions in excess of the NSR major source threshold, thereby subjecting Ultra to heightened permitting requirements.
In granting Ultra’s motion for summary judgment, the District Court concluded that Ultra’s compressor stations did not constitute a single facility. The regulatory definition of a single facility requires, in relevant part, that sources be “located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties” in order to be aggregated into a single facility. The central issue in this case was whether Ultra’s compressor stations are on “adjacent” properties.
The District Court found that Ultra’s compressor stations are not on “adjacent” properties under either the distance-based, plain meaning approach advocated by Ultra, or the functional relationship theory put forth by PennFuture. According to the District Court, the stipulated facts showed that the compressor stations are not “sufficiently close to, or near enough, each other to be considered adjacent.” Also, with respect to functional relationship, the District Court found no unique facts suggesting that Ultra’s emission sources were “unusual or outside of the normal oil and gas configurations and arrangements contemplated by [DEP].”
Although the District Court concluded that “the plain meaning of ‘contiguous’ and ‘adjacent’ should control a determination of whether two or more facilities should be aggregated,” it specifically “decline[d] to hold that functional interrelatedness can never lead to, or contribute to, a finding of contiguousness or adjacency.” Read our Administrative Watch for additional information regarding the District Court decision in Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future v. Ultra Resources, Inc.
The West Virginia Division of Air Quality will release a new general air quality permit, the G80-A, which will regulate air quality in regard to natural gas production, compressor and dehydration facilities. On February 5, 2014, the DEP will host a meeting to release the draft of the G80-A and cover the timeline, procedures for the official public notice for the draft permit, and subsequent public meetings.
Currently, General Permits G30-D and G35-A cover air quality relating to natural gas compressor facilities while G70-A covers air quality relating to natural gas facilities which are designed and operated for natural gas production at a well site. The general air quality permits currently in existence will continue, but there will be no future registrations, modifications or administrative updates to the G30-D, G35-A or G70-A permits. After the rollout of the new general permit, registrants wishing to modify an existing registration must register under the General Permit G80-A.
The meeting will take place from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. at the DEP’s headquarters and will also be live-streamed over the internet.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has finalized revisions to the General Plan Approval and/or General Operating Permit (BAQ-GPA/GP-5 or General Permit) for Natural Gas Compression and/or Processing Facilities (known as “GP-5”). Revisions to GP-5 include removal of the 100,000 ton per year greenhouse gas applicability threshold and addition of an annual compliance certification requirement. Changes to the permit were proposed in November 2014. DEP received public input from ten commenters.
On Saturday, November 15th, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published proposed changes to its General Plan Approval and/or General Operating Permit (BAQ-GPA/GP-5 or General Permit) for Natural Gas Compression and/or Processing Facilities (known as “GP-5”) issued in February 2013. Operators may apply for coverage under GP-5 to authorize the construction, modification, and/or operation of a natural gas compression and/or a gas processing facility.
Among other proposed changes, DEP has deleted the applicability threshold requirement for greenhouse gases in response to the United States Supreme Court’s Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision issued on June 23, 2014. DEP also added a requirement to submit an annual compliance certification for GP-5; the annual certification would be due to DEP by March 1 each year. Public comments on the proposed revisions to GP-5 will be accepted by DEP until January 6, 2015.
On September 18, 2014, sixteen of the nation’s largest environmental advocacy groups joined forces in a letter to President Barack Obama calling for national standards aimed at reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The letter urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to exercise its authority under the Clean Air Act to develop “smart and reasonable” methane standards for the oil and gas industry. The letter also encouraged the U.S. Department of the Interior to update their policies for national gas and methane emissions on public lands. As reported earlier this year, USEPA has released technical white papers regarding methane and volatile organic compound emissions, and is currently developing a strategy to address emission sources in the industry.