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EPA Pulls Back Regulations Setting Methane Emission Limits, Regulating Wastewater From Oil & Gas Operations, Risk Management Rule At Petrochemical Plants

On March 12, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced sweeping plans to reconsider more than 31 major environmental regulations and programs, including pulling back regulations reducing methane emissions and regulating production wastewater from oil and gas operations.

EPA also announced it would reconsider risk management rules that cover oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities.

Methane Emissions

EPA announced it would reconsider regulations for the oil and gas industry under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act and Subpart W of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

“Oil and gas standards promulgated by EPA must be rooted in the rule of law, not be used as a weapon to shut down development and manufacturing in the United States.

“EPA is reconsidering these regulations to ensure they do not prevent America from unleashing energy dominance and continuing our trajectory as a leader in clean energy and emissions reductions.

“We produce energy better and cleaner than so many other countries around the world, and yet Americans are punished at the end of the day by ideologically driven regulations,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.

Click Here for the announcement.

Pennsylvania’s DEP adopted a regulation limiting methane emissions from conventional oil and gas and shale gas facilities in 2022, however, the agency has been developing a new program to limit methane emissions under the regulation now being reconsidered by EPA.

Conventional oil and gas well owners have not complied with the 2022 as a result of a pending court challenge and not all shale gas facility owners have complied with the rule. Read more here.

Pennsylvania has independent authority to adopt its own methane limits under state law, if it so chooses.

Production Wastewater

The agency’s review will evaluate modern technologies and management strategies to provide regulatory flexibility for oil and gas wastewater – also known as produced water – to be treated for beneficial reuse, including for Artificial Intelligence and data center cooling, rangeland irrigation, fire control, power generation, and ecological needs.

Under current regulations, discharge of treated wastewater is only allowed for agricultural and wildlife water uses in the western United States.

EPA will consider expanding the geographic scope where treated wastewater can be used and discharged in the United States.

In addition to prioritizing cost savings, EPA’s rulemaking to revise the regulations will consider expanding opportunities for using treated wastewater, such as extraction of lithium and other critical minerals.

EPA will also explore additional flexibilities to discharge treated wastewater from centralized wastewater treatment facilities that manage wastewater produced in the extraction of oil and gas.

The Clean Water Act requires EPA to revise industry-wide wastewater treatment limits, called effluent limitations guidelines, to keep pace with innovations in pollution control technology.

Technologies to treat produced water to a quality for safe discharge and reuse have become more effective and affordable.

Effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) are national industry-specific wastewater regulations based on the performance of demonstrated wastewater treatment technologies (often called “technology-based limits”).

They are intended to represent the greatest pollutant reductions that are economically achievable for an entire industry.

Today’s announcement focuses on Subpart E of the current Oil and Gas Extraction Effluent Guidelines regulations at Title 40 Part 435 of the Code of Federal Regulations. EPA promulgated the Subpart E regulations in 1979. Many changes have occurred in the oil and gas extraction industry since then.

Click Here for the announcement.

Pennsylvania has been a leader in pushing the shale gas industry to recycle and treat its production wastewater and bans the disposal of shale gas wastewater through methods like road dumping and through most public wastewater treatment systems.

However, wastewater from conventional oil and gas operations is much less regulated by DEP and there is little or no oversight or accountability in how it is disposed of.

For example, road dumping conventional wastewater goes on illegally in most areas where there is conventional drilling. Read more here.

Pennsylvania has independent authority to adopt its own methane limits under state law, if it so chooses.

Risk Management Rules

EPA is reconsidering the 2024 Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule. This rule has raised significant concerns relating to national security and the value of the prescriptive requirements within the rule for America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe and less competitive.

Click Here for the announcement.

Pennsylvania has many facilities potentially covered by this change, including the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County, oil and natural gas refineries and processing plants.

NewsClips:

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: As Washington Unwinds Its Commitments, State And Local Governments Will Have To Step Up

-- Republican Herald Editorial: One-Sided Discussions On Issues Don’t Promote True Progress, EPA Visit Was Not A 'Roundtable Discussion,' But A 'Rally' For Natural Gas In Delaware River Basin [PaEN]

-- AP: EPA Head Says He’ll Roll Back Dozens Of Environmental Regulations, Including Rules On Climate Change

-- AP: A Breakdown Of Major EPA Deregulatory Moves Around Water, Air, Climate

-- E&E News/Politico: EPA Launches Assault On Environmental Regulations

-- Environmental Defense Fund: EPA’s Deregulation Plan Will Increase Pollution In Daily Lives

-- NYT: EPA Declares ‘Greatest Day Of Deregulation Our Nation Has Seen’

-- The Guardian: EPA To Reconsider Whether Greenhouse Gases Cause Harm Amid Climate Rollbacks

-- Bloomberg: President Mounts Sweeping Attack On Pollution, Climate Rules

-- Reuters: EPA Moves To Unwind Over Two Dozen US Air, Water Regulations

-- Utility Dive: EPA Aims To Roll Back Power Sector Regulations In Broad Deregulatory Push