EPA Proposes to Revise Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule to Address Equipment Leaks

On January 29, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would amend the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for the petroleum and natural gas systems source category at 40 CFR Part 98, Subpart W, which was revised as recently as October 2015.  Specifically, EPA now proposes to add new monitoring methods for detecting leaks from oil and natural gas equipment in order to achieve consistency with the leak detection methods in the agency’s pending New Source Performance Standards rulemaking for the oil and natural gas industry.  In addition, EPA is proposing to add emission factors for leaking equipment for use in the calculation and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.  Comments regarding the latest Subpart W rulemaking are due February 29, 2016.