On August 13, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced two final rules for the oil and natural gas industry.
The goal is reducing regulatory burdens for oil and natural gas companies while still protecting health and the environment. The two final rules, when combined, are estimated to reduce industry costs by $750 million dollars a year from 2021 to 2030.
“Regulatory burdens put into place by the Obama-Biden Administration fell heavily on small and medium-sized energy businesses. Today’s regulatory changes remove redundant paperwork, align with the Clean Air Act, and allow companies the flexibility to satisfy leak-control requirements by complying with equivalent state rules.”
Oil and gas operators will still be required to reduce emissions of ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The new rule removes methane control requirements for oil production and processing. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to make a finding that a pollutant contributes significantly to air pollution. But the Obama EPA failed to make that finding for methane emissions from the oil production and processing segments.
Low-production wells with less than 15 barrels a day of oil are exempted from monitoring methane leaks. These oil wells are usually owned and operated by small businesses. Another change allows companies to meet certain states’ requirements instead of complying with EPA’s requirements -- so they face just one set of regulations.
Source:
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/pittsburgh-administrator-wheeler-announces-final-air-regulations-oil-and-gas-removing
Several states and environmental groups will fight the decision. Basil Seggos, commissioner of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, said his agency would challenge the new rule.
The Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit that has often collaborated with major oil companies on reducing methane emissions, warned that the rule changes would create a risk for U.S. gas sales into Europe (which is moving to tighten laws on greenhouse-gas emissions).