The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed changes in regulations it issued in 2016 limiting emissions at oil and gas operations. Specifically, it is reconsidering fugitive emissions requirements, wellsite pneumatic pump standards, requirements for certification of closed vent systems, and the alternative means of emissions limitations provisions, EPA said in an Oct. 15 Federal Register notice.
EPA also proposed additional amendments to clarify and streamline the rule’s implementation. These include for well completions (location of a separator during flowback, screen-outs, and coil tubing cleanouts), onshore natural gas processing plants (definition of capital expenditure and monitoring), storage vessels (maximum average daily throughput), and general clarifications (certifying official and recordkeeping and reporting).
The proposed revisions also included technical corrections of inadvertent errors in the final rule, which was issued on June 3, 2016, EPA said. It established New Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gas emissions in the form of limits on methane and volatile organic compounds from oil and gas operations. Then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy received petitions for consideration of several provisions after the final rule came out.
EPA proposed several revisions to requirements for collection of fugitive emissions components at wellsites and at compressor stations. Monitoring frequencies would be annually for non-low production sites, every 2 years for low-production well sites, coproposed semiannual and annual monitoring for compressor stations, and annually for compressor stations on Alaska’s North Slope.
