It may have taken about 20 months for the groups to get back together following their inaugural February 2018 meeting. Regulators from federal, state, and Indian tribal governments; oil and gas industry associations; and environmental and other organizations nevertheless completed 2 days of discussions on Nov. 5 about ways to assure US energy production and consumption occurs responsibly.
The State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) and the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) convened the meeting with funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
“EPA is committed to working together with stakeholders to improve regulatory certainty and find solutions to environmental challenges,” EPA Associate Deputy Administrator Doug Benevento observed. “It is important that we build upon the efforts of the previous roundtable to coordinate and provide a forum for all sides to listen and learn from each other.”
The first meeting tried to identify practical solutions to various environmental regulatory, permitting, and compliance challenges to achieve more effective and efficient environmental outcomes. EPA then produced a 10-page Highlights Document capturing various stakeholders’ ideas, experiences, and practices.
It said that participants’ comments from that meeting centered on five general areas: certainty and consistency, collaboration and engagement, technology and data, ways to measure success, and resources.
EPA said stakeholders at the most recent meeting tried to address possible solutions at the intersection of technology, regulation, and environmental protection as the federal regulator engaged with its state and tribal counterparts and the domestic oil and gas industry.
Why it’s working
State regulators came away encouraged. “A multifaceted group of interests are participating to find innovative regulatory and private sector solutions for methane, produced water and more within the oil and gas industry,” said Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Director Todd Parfitt. “This is a fundamental industry to Wyoming’s economy, and we appreciate the partnership.”
Kenneth Wagner, the state’s secretary of energy and environment, added, “In Oklahoma, we are working together with our oil and gas industry to create a culture of environmental compliance to benefit all of our citizens. Working with EPA, ECOS, and the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission is vital to ensuring that our producers continue meeting the nation’s demand for energy in the safest and most environmentally sensitive manner possible.”
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy Deputy Director Butch Lambert said, “I was proud to be a part of history in signing the STRONGER MOU with the EPA and now, we are seeing the fruits of our labor. When all those involved come to the same table we end up with a successful, environmentally sound and economically productive natural gas and oil industry.”
About the Author
Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.