EPA Publishes Emissions Limits and Standards For Oil And Gas Sector

EPA has just published in the Federal Register its final  rules amending emissions and performance standards for the oil and gas production industry.  Here is the summary from the Federal Register:

Responding to the requirements of a consent decree, this action finalizes several rules that apply to the oil and gas production industry and significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants. More particularly, the action finalizes:  

• New source performance standards (NSPS) for the Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production and onshore natural gas processing plant source category. The EPA reviewed two existing NSPS for onshore natural gas processing plant source category under section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This action improves the existing NSPS and finalizes standards for certain crude oil and natural gas sources that are not covered by existing NSPS for this sector.  

• National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Oil and Natural Gas Production source category and the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage source category. The EPA conducted risk and technology reviews (RTR) for these rules under section 112 of the CAA. In addition, the EPA has established emission limits for certain currently uncontrolled emission sources in these source categories. These limits reflect maximum achievable control technology (MACT).

Check the Federal Register for more details. Compliance dates for New Source Performance Standards Subpart  OOOO are found at 77 Fed Reg 49497.  The compliance dates for the NESHAPs are found on page 49503.