GPA Midstream asks EPA not to add gas processing plants to TRI

The GPA Midstream Association asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its proposal to add natural gas processing plants to its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).

TRI’s general purpose is to make information about chemical releases publicly available, the Tulsa-based association said in comments submitted to EPA. GPA Midstream believes its information is being shared already through existing state and federal regulations, it said.

“In fact, most of the pertinent data reported under TRI is already in EPA's own files due to existing regulatory programs under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,” said Matthew Hite, vice-president for government affairs, in Washington. “In most cases, state regulatory agencies will already possess the data EPA is requesting in this proposal.”

EPA proposed adding gas processing plants to its TRI in January (OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2017).

Hite said that under the proposed rule EPA estimates that gas processing facilities manufacture, process, or otherwise use 21 different TRI-listed chemicals. Its analysis only accounts for these chemicals, and does not account for costs associated with tracking and analyzing chemicals below the de minimus threshold which are required to be tracked as part of more than 650 substances under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313.

GPA Midstream asked EPA to withdraw the proposed because it was improperly vetted on inadequate data and little, if any, outreach to the affected industry, Hite said.

“This is an unnecessary expansion of government regulation where the evidence as presented in the docket does not support the need to add natural gas processing facilities to the list of industries required to report to TRI under EPCRA,” he said. “It's also important to note that EPA has completely underestimated the cost of this proposed rule on the industry and does not adequately assess the administrative burden of tracking and record keeping that this proposed rule passes on to GPA Midstream members.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].