EPA commits to review emissions from drilling sites

OREANDA-NEWS. October 10, 2016. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today committed to take a closer look at the decades-old formulas it uses to estimate the volume of smog-forming emissions from flares at natural gas production sites.

That review, which EPA plans to finish in 2018, could lead to tougher air emissions regulations for the industry if the agency finds the flares emit significantly more volatile organic compounds than it thought. Those compounds can create smog when they react in the atmosphere with light and nitrogen oxides.

Emission factors provide a way for regulators to estimate air emissions from industrial facilities without having to install costly air monitors on every piece of equipment. But environmentalists say those EPA-approved formulas frequently underestimate emissions. This can translate into weaker rules when states write plans, called SIPs, for complying with the Clean Air Act.

"We have got to get a proper accounting of flares to do things like plan our next ozone SIPs or make sure that hazardous air pollutants are not impacting nearby communities," Air Alliance Houston executive director Adrian Shelley said.

Air Alliance Houston was one of the environmental groups that sued EPA to force the agency to review the emission factors for flares at natural gas production facilities, which were last updated in 1985. The agreement, filed today in federal court in Washington, DC, commits the agency to propose a review of the standards by 5 June 2017 and finalize it by 5 February 2018.

EPA could potentially determine that 1985 emission factors are still accurate. But environmentalists note that a similar EPA review in 2015 found flares at refineries and chemical plants were emitting four times the amount of volatile organic compounds than the agency previously thought.

Natural gas production facilities typically try to capture as much natural gas as possible. But they occasionally use flares during upset events or when gases being produced are off specification. EPA's review would not affect the emission factors used for flares at oil production facilities, which rely on different standards.

The American Petroleum Institute said it was reviewing the settlement agreement.