On April 21, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published in the Federal Register its proposed rule to define “waters of the United States” and related key terms for purposes of determining the extent of federal agency jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. Public comments will be accepted until July 21, 2014.
The Ohio Department of Health has issued guidelines for sampling and analysis of Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) commonly found in drilling wastes. The guidelines were issued in conjunction with Ohio House Bill 59, which required the Director of Health to adopt rules establishing requirements governing TENORM.
As reported in the Pittsburgh Business Times, the proposed ethane cracker plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia, could potentially have a multi-billion dollar positive effect on the state’s economy. Emeritus Professor of Economics Tom S. Witt of West Virginia University authored a report, entitled “Building Value from Shale Gas: The Promise of Expanding Petrochemicals in West Virginia,” wherein he analyzed the short and long term impact of the proposed facility on West Virginia’s economy. Based upon the conclusions of Professor Witt’s report, the construction and operation of the proposed ethane cracker plant could generate a total of 19,710 jobs, representing employee compensation of $1.047 Billion and total economic output of $2.261 Billion. Professor Witt, in his report and in an interview with the Charleston Daily Mail, gives specific policy and legislative recommendations for West Virginia to successfully attract large scale projects, such as the ethane cracker.
Ohio legislation enacted earlier this year imposes new requirements on facilities that store, recycle, treat, process or dispose of brine or other waste substances associated with the exploration, development and operations of oil and gas wells. Under the new requirements, the Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management must adopt rules establishing the procedures and requirements for applications to obtain permits for the installation and operation of these waste facilities. The Division has established a two-step process for waste facility operators to comply with the new requirements:
The Division of Oil and Gas Resource Management intends to propose the new rules in early 2014. Guidelines for applying for Chief’s Orders for interim authority to install or operate facilities have been posted on ODNR’s website and are available here.
Environmental groups and industry organizations are at an impasse over regulations proposed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that would lift the state’s 40-year ban on the construction and operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. New York enacted a moratorium on the construction of LNG storage facilities after the explosion of an LNG tank in Staten Island killed 40 workers in 1973. Several environmental groups that oppose the proposed regulations commented that lifting the LNG ban will open the door for shale gas development through hydraulic fracturing in New York. Industry groups and the DEC, however, said that the regulations would facilitate the use of LNG in long-haul trucks, a cheaper and cleaner option to diesel fuel. “These regulations have nothing whatsoever to do with fracking and everything to do with putting cleaner trucks on our highways,” said a spokeswoman for the DEC. The DEC is expected to finalize the proposed regulations in early 2014.
Earlier this week, U.S. EPA published final revisions to the New Source Performance Standards for the Oil and Natural Gas Sector (i.e., 40 CFR 60, Subpart OOOO). As discussed in a previous post, EPA has made significant changes to the provisions affecting storage tanks. The revised regulations are effective immediately. Additional information is available here.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a final rule in today’s edition of the Federal Register that amends its administrative procedures for federal enforcement actions effective October 25, 2013. The final rule is intended to comply with a mandate in Section 20 of the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, the most recent reauthorization of the federal pipeline safety laws. Section 20 directed PHMSA to issue regulations that (1) require hearings to be convened before a dedicated “presiding official,” a term defined by statute as an attorney on the staff of the Deputy Chief Counsel that is not engaged in investigative or prosecutorial functions; (2) ensure the expedited review of corrective action orders, which are issued in cases where a pipeline facility is hazardous to life, property, or the environment; (3) create a separation of functions between agency personnel who perform investigatory and prosecutorial duties and those who are responsible for deciding the final outcome of cases; and (4) prohibit ex parte communications on relevant matters by the parties to those actions. The final rule addresses these issues and includes some changes to the draft regulations that the agency published in an August 13, 2012 notice of proposed rulemaking. The changes are largely based on comments submitted by industry trade organizations and the federal committee that advises PHMSA on pipeline safety matters.
As previously reported on the Babst Calland Shale Energy Law Blog, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board considered and approved the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (“PADEP”) proposed regulations regarding Subchapter C to Chapter 78 of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas regulations by a vote of 16 to 2 at its August 27, 2013 meeting. The proposed rulemaking will next be reviewed by the Commonwealth’s Attorney General’s Office and the Office of General Counsel. Following this review, the proposed rulemaking will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for public review and comment. PADEP has recommended a 60-day public comment period and at least six public hearings to be held at various locations across the Commonwealth.
The Bureau of Land Management’s revised proposal to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal lands remains controversial, inviting more than 600,000 comments from 250 public interest groups calling for stricter regulations, as well as strong opposition from industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute and the Western Energy Alliance. BLM released the revised proposal in May. The deadline for public comment, which was extended once, passed last Friday, August 23rd. BLM will review the comments before publishing a final rule. BLM holds 700 million acres of federal mineral estate and 56 million acres of Indian mineral estate.
The Wheeling Planning Commission has approved plans of GreenHunter Resources, Inc. for a water recycling and barging facility to be constructed in Wheeling, WV. The $1.7 million construction project, as reported by the Pittsburgh Business Times, is GreenHunter’s latest solution for dealing with production water resulting from hydraulic fracturing activities in West Virginia. The facility will treat production water to be re-used by companies, with any remaining water transported by barge to disposal wells. GreenHunter estimates that every 10,000 barrel barge load can remove 100 trucks from the water transportation process.
The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board, the Commonwealth’s environmental rulemaking body, will consider proposed rulemaking to Subchapter C to Chapter 78 of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas regulations during its next meeting on August 27, 2013.
On August 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register that contained a package of periodic updates to the voluntary consensus standards that are incorporated into the federal pipeline safety regulations by reference, as well as several non-substantive, miscellaneous amendments. As PHMSA explained in the NPRM, the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (Publ. L. 104-113) requires federal agencies to adopt voluntary consensus standards by regulation where appropriate, and there are 64 such standards incorporated by reference into the federal pipeline safety regulations. PHMSA also explained that a congressional mandate in the recent reauthorization of the federal pipeline safety laws requires the agency to make these industry standards available to the public, free of charge, on the Internet. Among the noteworthy changes in the NPRM is a proposal to incorporate the first edition of API Recommended Practice 5LT, “Recommended Practice for Truck Transportation of Line Pipe,” into the federal pipeline safety regulations. A variety of other applicable industry standards would also be updated, including those that apply to the transportation of line pipe by rail, barge, marine vessel; the specifications for line pipe, pipeline valves, and storage tanks; and the methodology for conducting pipeline external corrosion direct assessments. PHMSA is also proposing to clarify the text of three regulations by making non-substantive changes.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the pre-publication version of its final revisions to the New Source Performance Standards for the Oil and Natural Gas Sector (i.e., 40 CFR 60, Subpart OOOO). EPA made significant changes to the provisions affecting “storage vessels,” including storage tanks, used in oil or natural gas production and transmission. In general, an individual storage tank is subject to the rule if it has the potential to emit six or more tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). According to EPA, “storage tanks subject to the rule may be located anywhere along the oil and natural gas production and transmission process,” which, for natural gas, “extends from the natural gas well to the point where gas enters the distribution system.”
The proposal to revise Subpart OOOO was first published in the Federal Register in April 2013. EPA revised Subpart OOOO in response to several petitions for reconsideration of the final rule issued in 2012. EPA has acknowledged that a far greater number of storage vessels come online each year than the agency originally anticipated. On that basis, EPA has delayed the compliance deadline for some storage vessels. The effective date of the final revisions will be identified upon publication in the Federal Register.
Updating previous posts, the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) recently released an economic analysis in response to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) latest version of its proposed fracking rules for wells on federal lands. Bloomberg BNA reports that WEA believes that although positive changes were made in the latest revised rules, BLM did not consider a number of factors, such as initial delay costs associated with implementing the rule in light of current staffing levels. BLM estimated that its revised proposal would cost industry between $12 million to $20 million annually, which is substantially lower than the estimated costs of the original proposal ($37 to 44 million annually). However, WEA found that BLM’s latest proposal will still have a significant financial impact on the industry. WEA and other industry groups have urged BLM to abandon the proposed rules.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced on Monday that the public comment period for proposed policy changes would be extended from July 22nd to August 27th because of a printing error in the Pennsylvania Bulletin that provided the incorrect e-mail address for comments. The draft policy would impact the permit review process by proposing procedures for public hearings, and for receiving and responding to public comments. All permits that are published in Pennsylvania’s official information outlet, the Pennsylvania Bulletin, will be affected by this proposed policy change, including permits for oil and natural gas wells.