Late summer may not seem like an appropriate time to prepare for avalanches in Washington at first. The nation's capital feels deserted as Congress takes its August recess, and many others are away for a week's vacation. But experience shows that's when some regulatory agencies make significant moves-especially when they face important September deadlines.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service must decide by Sept. 30 whether to list the greater sage grouse as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The bird's 165-million-acre habitat across 11 western states includes areas where oil and gas activity takes place.
The US Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service are working with state and local governments, energy and other industries, ranchers and other property owners, and additional stakeholders to demonstrate that efforts to mitigate destruction of the bird's habitat have done enough to make a listing unnecessary.
Then there is the US Environmental Protection Agency, which faces much more than a few deadlines of its own. American Petroleum Institute Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director Howard J. Feldman characterized it as a "regulatory avalanche" on Aug. 13.
There's EPA's proposal to reduce ground-level ozone emissions limits under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards from their current 75 ppb to a 65-70 ppb. The National Association of Manufacturers estimates this could cost up to $140 million/year, and place the equivalent of 1.4 million jobs in jeopardy annually. It also could place national parks and other rural US areas out of regulatory compliance from naturally occurring ozone.
The administration's new Clean Power Plan, which primarily affects coal-fired power plants, also has generated significant concerns. A $20-million refining rule that EPA proposed a year earlier under the same Clean Air Act section could do its own significant harm to refiners, Feldman told reporters during a briefing at API headquarters.
Ample safety margin
As written, the rule would require more flares and use of maximum achievable control technology, Feldman said. It also would inaugurate fence monitoring requirements. "This comes after EPA itself concluded that refineries protect the public with an ample margin of safety," Feldman said. "We don't see a need for additional measures."
The day of the briefing, he said three proposed oil and gas regulations were awaiting reviews at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the proposed ozone standard was due to be sent there the following week.
Feldman did not expect any respite downstream. "At the same this administration looked away from carbon dioxide emissions from refineries, it started to go after methane releases," he said. "It hasn't let us off the hook."
