On May 6, Laura Legere of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the Department of Environmental Protection is re-evaluating the final regulation to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations over a 2016 law requiring separate regulations for conventional oil and gas operations.

DEP said it pulled the regulation from the Independent Regulatory Review Commission May 19 meeting agenda as a result of a House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee letter opposing the regulation based on the 2016 law (Act 52).  Read more here.

DEP said delaying finalization of the regulation beyond a June 16 federal deadline would mean Pennsylvania could face sanctions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including loss of federal highway funds.

Legere reported-- “This delay caused by the disapproval resolution would jeopardize billions of dollars in federal highway funds,” [Neil Shader, a spokesperson for DEP] said. “DEP believes that re-evaluating the regulation and resubmitting to [the Environmental Quality Board] could avoid or minimize sanctions from the federal government.”

The next scheduled meeting of the EQB is on May 18.

In a related action, Legere also reported three conventional oil and gas industry groups filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court on May 4 to block a final regulation from going into effect citing the same 2016 law (Act 52) they say requires conventional oil and gas wells to be regulated separately from unconventional shale gas wells.

DEP had previously said it didn’t believe Act 52 applied to the methane regulation because it was being promulgated under the state Air Pollution Control Act not statutory requirements under Title 58 (Oil & Gas) referenced repeatedly in Act 52 and during debate on the legislation as it was considered in the General Assembly.

Commonwealth Court has scheduled a May 10 hearing on the conventional operator’s lawsuit.

(Photo: Methane on fire leaking from conventional gas well, PA Independent Oil & Gas Association.)

NewsClips:

-- Post-Gazette - Laura Legere: DEP Evaluating Whether To Resubmit Oil & Gas Methane Rule To EQB To Address Concerns About A Separate Conventional Oil & Gas Rule

-- Post-Gazette - Laura Legere: Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Sues DEP To Be Excluded From Methane Emissions Reduction Rule

Related Articles This Week:

-- Republican Senators Introduce Bill To Deregulate Oil & Gas Industry, Coal-Fired Power Plants, Open State Forests To Drilling, Withdrawn From RGGI

-- Republican ‘Sandbox Permit’ Legislation Would Allow Agencies, Permit Applicants To Permanently Waive And Replace Any Regulatory Requirement With Minimal Public Review

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Dispose Of Drill Cuttings By ‘Dusting’ - Blowing Them On The Ground, And In The Air Around Drill Sites

[Posted: May 6, 2022]

5/9/2022