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Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.  (See White House Fact Sheet.)  The EPA’s goal is to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40-45% from 2012 levels by 2025.  The proposed regulations will set standards to reduce methane and volatile organic compounds (“VOC”) emissions from “new and modified oil and gas production sources, and natural gas processing and transmission sources.”  The EPA will issue a proposed rule in summer 2015, and will issue a final rule as early as next year, in 2016.

Today’s announcement furthers the “Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions” issued in March 2014, which is an initiative under the Obama Administration’s Climate Act Plan.  Further, the EPA previously published standards for VOC emissions from the oil and gas industry in 2012 which aim to protect public health and the environment while permitting expansion of oil and gas production.Continue Reading EPA Announces Plan for Rulemaking to Reduce Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry

In several recent studies on methane emissions relating to the natural gas industry, scientists concluded that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) underestimated the quantity of methane the industry releases to the atmosphere. A study released Monday, based on air samples above wells in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania, indicates that methane emissions may be from 100 to 1000 times higher than EPA estimates. But this study also found that hydraulic fracturing was not a primary source of methane emissions.

Also this week, EPA released five white papers for peer review identifying fracking, along with compressors, leaks, liquids unloading and pneumatic devices, as a potentially significant source of methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. The papers are the first step in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions targeting several areas, including the oil and gas sector, for reducing methane emissions.
Continue Reading Study Suggests EPA Underestimated Natural Gas Methane Emissions, But Not for Fracking, and EPA Releases Study Examining Fracking Emissions Controls

Nine separate petitions for review were filed lask week in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging EPA’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for fracking well completions and revised National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for major sources at oil and gas production facilities. The petitioners include environmental groups, industry associations and the State of Texas.
Continue Reading Both Sides Challenge EPA’s New Fracking Air Emissions Rules

Last week, EPA issued a final rule imposing New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) on fracking well completions.  The rule applies to new gas wells and refractured gas wells, which are considered “modifications” subject to NSPS.  Under the new rule, fracking operators must use reduced emission completions, also known as RECs or green completions, to reduce…

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Here Stoel Rives shares insight and analysis about key mineral law developments. Drawing on a very active natural resources practice, we aim to keep readers informed about the legal aspects of news that impacts exploration and development of all things mineral.