August 30, 2020
On Thursday, August 13, the EPA finalized new rules that rolled back Obama-era policies and standards regulating methane emissions emanating from oil and gas facilities, including from well sites, compressor stations and processing, and other storage and transportation facilities, according to an August 21 report in The National Law Review.
The rules concluded a process that began in 2018 and will apply to wells that have been drilled since 2016, removing requirements for producers to have systems to detect methane leaks and reducing the frequency for checks for leaks.
These Lead Detection and Repair (LDAR) programs were put in place by President Obama through the provisions of what are generally referred to as OOOO and OOOOa – air quality regulations developed by the EPA as a means of controlling methane emissions and in furtherance of his administration’s larger climate change policy.
Methane, while making up only 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, is a substantially more potent greenhouse gas than others.
EPA’s new rules are as follows:
- Final policy amendments (199 pp, 1 MB)
- Final technical amendments (235 pp, 1 MB)
- Regulatory Impact Analysis (175 pp, 2 MB, 08-2020)
- Overview fact sheet (2 pp, 144 K)
- Final policy amendments fact sheet (4 pp, 190 K)
- Final technical amendments (7 pp, 257 K)
What this means to you
The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized new rules that roll back Obama-era policies and standards that regulated methane emissions emanating from oil and gas facilities, including from well sites, compressor stations and processing, and other storage and transportation facilities. New rules also rescind VOC requirement for transmission and storage segment.
MIRATECH can help
Contact MIRATECH for stationary engine emission control in the oil and gas segment.