The US Environmental Protection Agency launched a voluntary emissions auditing program on Mar. 29 for new owners of oil and gas exploration and production operations that it said would accelerate the rate at which these entities find, correct, and disclose federal Clean Air Act violations. The program potentially could reduce emissions of significant pollutants significantly and increase environmental protection, it indicated.
“New owners of oil and gas facilities may be particularly well positioned to identify and address emission violations,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Susan Bodine said. “This program offers these new owners incentives to ensure their newly-acquired facilities are in, or come into, compliance.”
The program encourages new owners of well sites and associated storage tanks and pollution control systems to participate because it provides regulatory certainty and clearly defined civil penalty mitigation beyond what is offered by the EPA’s existing self-disclosure policies, EPA said.
Under it, new owners will, in most cases, have 9 months from the date of acquisition to notify EPA of their interest in participating, the agency explained. New owners include those who acquired assets in the 12 months preceding the program’s launch. EPA said that it can reject applications if it or a state have already discovered violations at a facility.
EPA said it announced its intention to develop the program on May 4, 2018. It subsequently solicited and received feedback from state and local governments, oil and gas E&P companies and trade associations, and environmental and other non-government organizations. The final program reflects EPA’s efforts to refine the program’s requirements based on stakeholders’ feedback, the agency said.
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