The director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Nally, abruptly resigned yesterday after three years on the job. Nally departed his position on short notice and did not give a specific reason for his resignation. Craig Butler, a senior director of energy and environmental policy in Ohio governor John Kasich’s office, will replace Nally on an interim basis.
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.
Last week the University of Texas, in conjunction with the Environmental Defense Fund and 9 companies involved in natural gas production, released a study which found that 0.42% of natural gas produced in the U.S. is emitted into the atmosphere as methane (the main component of natural gas). This estimate is lower than the leak rates found in a 2010 Cornell University study, which estimated leakage at between 0.6 to 3.2%, and U.S. EPA’s review of 2011 data which showed that gas leaked from wells at a rate of 0.47%. Researchers in the University of Texas study recorded direct measurements of actual emissions at 190 well sites, whereas Cornell and U.S. EPA researchers used data provided by drillers. This is the first of multiple studies to be completed by the University of Texas.
U.S. EPA recently revised its oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasure (SPCC) program guidance to help promote consistency in the way SPCC rules are administered by different EPA regions. The SPCC rules mandate the implementation of professionally-developed, facility-wide spill prevention plans, and apply to facilities that meet all of the following: (1) store, transfer, use or consume oil or oil products; (2) store more than 1,320 gallons in above-ground containers or more than 42,000 gallons in buried containers; and (3) have a reasonable potential to discharge oil or oil products to waterbodies or adjoining shorelines. EPA revised the program guidance in response to criticism from EPA’s inspector general. Earlier this year, the inspector general found that EPA regions lacked guidance or direction on coordinating regional responses to oil spills. The regulated community may comment on the revised guidance. Additional information is available here.
Recently confirmed U. S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke at a forum at the University of Colorado School of Law on August 14 and addressed President Obama’s Climate Action Plan before participating in a panel discussion. In her remarks, McCarthy emphasized that climate change is not an “ancillary environmental concern” and stated that the EPA will work with states and representatives of the oil and gas industry to ensure that natural gas extraction will not harm public health and the environment. “The President has asked us to bring leaders in oil and gas to the table … natural gas is part of the energy future for this country, but natural gas extraction has to be done in an environmentally safe way.”
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.
On July 18, 2013, the full U.S. Senate voted to confirm Gina McCarthy as the next U.S. EPA Administrator. The Senate voted 59-40 in favor of President Obama’s controversial nominee, after months of delay. The President formally nominated McCarthy in March 2013. McCarthy has led EPA’s air office since 2009 and is expected to play a pivotal role in implementing the President’s Climate Action Plan.
On Thursday, U.S. EPA announced that the State of Wyoming will lead further investigation of drinking water quality in Pavillion, Wyoming. In 2009, EPA began working with the state and local tribes to investigate water quality in the Pavillion area in response to citizen reports of contaminated well water. Sampling results have shown constituents of concern in the domestic water wells, but a source of the constituents has yet to be determined. EPA released a draft report in 2011 indicating that the groundwater contains constituents likely associated with nearby gas production and hydraulic fracturing activity. The agency no longer intends to finalize or rely on the draft report, as indicated in the following statement from EPA:
“While EPA stands behind its work and data, the agency recognizes the State of Wyoming’s commitment for further investigation and efforts to provide clean water and does not plan to finalize or seek peer review of its draft Pavillion groundwater report released in December, 2011. Nor does the agency plan to rely upon the conclusions in the draft report.”
EPA will continue to provide support for the investigation led by Wyoming officials. EPA plans to now focus attention on its major hydraulic fracturing study, for which the agency expects to issue a draft report in late 2014.
On May 9, 2013, the U.S. EPA approved the PADEP’s 2012 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report, a biennial “monitoring and assessment report characterizing the condition of Pennsylvania’s surface waters.” Included in this report is a list of Pennsylvania’s “impaired” surface waters that are not able to attain water quality standards, generally referred to as the 303(d) List. According to the U.S. EPA, PADEP’s 303(d) List includes 7,009 impaired waters, with 263 waters newly listed in the 2012 Report. The 2012 Report also “includes a change in the designation for a nearly 100-mile section of the main stem of the Susquehanna River from ‘unimpaired’ for aquatic life and recreational uses, to having insufficient water quality data to make an impairment determination.” Accordingly, PADEP is currently working with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and the U.S. Geological Survey to complete a Susquehanna River Study this year to assess the quality of waters in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is extending by more than six months the deadline for the public to submit scientific data and literature to inform EPA’s study of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water sources. The new deadline is November 15, 2013. Last week, the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee convened a hearing to examine hydraulic fracturing research efforts by the Federal Government. Members of Congress reportedly criticized the slow pace at which EPA is approaching the study. EPA has stated in the past that it intends to issue draft results of the study by 2014.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed revisions (described in an earlier post) to certain new source performance standards affecting the oil and natural gas sector were published today in the Federal Register, marking the beginning of the public comment period. Comments are due on May 13, 2013.
On April 2, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew a direct final rule it issued in February 2013 that required oil and natural gas companies to submit by June 30th of each year a request to use alternative calculation methods for reporting greenhouse gas emissions. EPA received adverse comments on the direct final rule, and will instead address this issue through the proposed rulemaking process.
On March 28, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication version of proposed amendments to the Oil and Natural Gas Sector New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). EPA published the final oil and gas NSPS in August 2012, and is now proposing changes to the rule in response to petitions filed by industry and environmental groups. The proposed amendments would affect a variety of storage tanks associated with the oil and natural gas production process.
President Obama announced today that he is nominating Gina McCarthy to be the next Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). McCarthy is currently Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. She will replace former Administrator Lisa Jackson, who stepped down from the post last month. McCarthy is known for her work on EPA’s greenhouse gas program and other high-profile regulatory initiatives, including the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and new mercury emissions limitations for power plants. She previously served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. President Obama also announced two other significant nominations today: Ernest Moniz for Secreraty of Energy and Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be head of the Office of Management and Budget.
In a report issued last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) asked the agency to improve its air emissions data for the oil and gas industry. Specifically, OIG called on EPA to implement a comprehensive strategy for improving air emissions data and prioritizing emission factors for the industry. EPA agreed with some of these recommendations, but rejected OIG’s directives to ensure that states submit certain data and to develop additional, default calculation guidance for emission factors.