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On October 4, 2017, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held that the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) cannot postpone implementation of natural gas methane emission rules because such action would violate the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”).  Plaintiffs – the State of California, the State of New Mexico, and a coalition of seventeen conservation and tribal citizens groups (jointly “Plaintiffs”) – initiated the lawsuit in two separate actions.  Plaintiffs argued that postponing implementation of the BLM’s Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation Rule (“Final Rule”) after its effective date violated Section 705 of the APA.
Continue Reading Trump’s BLM Cannot Delay Implementation of Oil and Gas Methane Rules after Effective Date

Widely anticipated on both sides of the aisle, on May 12, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released final regulations to curb emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds (“VOC”) from additional new, modified, and reconstructed sources in the oil and gas industry.  The Final Rule, titled,  ‘Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources’ (“Final Rule”), amends the new source performance standards (“NSPS”) for the oil and natural gas source category.  This action follows EPA’s publication of proposed regulations in August 2015, and is extremely significant because it is the first instance of such regulation of VOC and methane emissions by the EPA.  In addition to yesterday’s announcement, the EPA is completing final Control Techniques Guidelines for reducing VOC emissions from existing oil and gas sources in ozone nonattainment areas, which are expected to be released later this spring.

Background: The Climate Action Plan

Over the past few years, the Obama Administration has taken an aggressive stance on climate change regulation, and the Final Rule is the Administration’s most recent action to specifically address methane and short-lived climate pollutants.  In June 2013, the Administration released the Climate Action Plan which directed the EPA and other federal agencies to develop a comprehensive regulatory scheme to reduce methane emissions.  In March 2014, as a follow-up to the Climate Action Plan, the Obama Administration issued the Climate Action Plan: Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions.Continue Reading EPA Issues Expansive, Costly New Source Performance Standards for Oil and Gas Sector

On August 18, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released proposed regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oil and gas facilities. These first-ever proposed standards are a key part of a broader strategy, under the President’s Climate Action Plan, to cut methane emissions in the sector by 40% to 45% below 2012 levels in the next decade.

Building on its 2012 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for VOC emissions for the oil and natural gas industry, EPA’s proposed updates would require that the industry also reduce methane emissions. Sources already subject to the 2012 NSPS requirements for VOC reductions, which would also be covered by the proposed 2015 methane requirements, would not have to install additional controls, because the controls to reduce VOCs reduce both pollutants. Although the three-year-old mandates targeted VOCs at the sites, the approach cut methane emissions as a side benefit.

The new proposal would go further, requiring methane and VOC reductions from hydraulically fractured oil wells, too. And, the new plan would extend those emission-cutting requirements further downstream to natural gas transmission and processing equipment.
Continue Reading U.S. EPA Proposes New Rules to Curb Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Sector

Today, Friday, March 20, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), an agency within the Department of the Interior, published regulations for hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands.  The Final Rule becomes effective in 90 days and will impact about 2,800-3,800 wells each year.  In 2013, 90% of the 2,800 new wells on Federal and Indian lands were stimulated using hydraulic fracturing techniques, according to the BLM.  (Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands, Final Rule, at p. 14.)  The regulations do not apply to fracking activity on private and state-owned land, where most of the fracking in the United States occurs.

Requirements under the Final Rule

The overarching purpose of the Final Rule is to provide a “baseline for environmental protection.”  (Id. at p. 12.)  Principally, a permit is required under existing oil and gas regulations.  Before beginning operations, an operator must submit an Application for a Permit to Drill (“APD”) to the BLM and wait for approval.  As the new regulations supplement the existing regulations, and do not replace them, this permit requirement will continue under the new regulations.Continue Reading Obama Administration Releases Federal Fracking Regulations

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

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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.