EPA finalizes methane emissions control rule, proposes another

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a final regulation aimed at improving the clarity and consistency of oil and gas data submitted to its greenhouse-gas reporting program (GHGRP). It also proposed a rule that would add emissions reporting for sources that the program does not cover currently to its Subpart W.

The final rule, which EPA proposed on Mar. 10, was designed to make corrections to and clarify existing regulatory requirements, the agency said Nov. 13. It will become effective on Jan. 1, 2015.

An EPA spokeswoman said the proposed rule reflects the oil and gas industry’s rapid growth and changes. It would require new data to be reported for onshore gathering and boosting activities, onshore gas transmission pipelines, and completions and workovers of oil wells which are hydraulically fractured, she said on Nov. 16 in response to an OGJ inquiry.

“By increasing access to GHGRP’s oil and gas systems data, we can increase the understanding of sources in the industry for which the public previously had little information,” the spokeswoman said. “These revisions will further enhance the quality of the data and allow the GHGRP to continue to serve as an important tool for the agency and the public to understand emissions from this sector.”

Comments will be accepted for 60 days following the proposal’s publication in the Federal Register. EPA anticipates that a final version would take effect on Jan. 1, 2016.

Officials from several oil and gas trade associations said the industry has made progress already to curb methane emissions. “We continue to see concern raised about it,” America’s Natural Gas Alliance Pres. Martin J. Durbin said on Nov. 17. “There’s some good news about methane not only on the production side, but across the entire system. Emissions are being reduced not just in production, but in transmission, storage, and distribution. There are enormous improvements across the industry.”

Continued improvement

More can be done, Durbin said during a teleconference with reporters. “This is an area where we’re going to see continued improvement,” he predicted. “The reductions which have taken place so far occurred without regulations. We’re seeing additional opportunities with the use of recompletions and elsewhere to do more. It’s in the interest of industry and everyone else to work with the [Obama] administration to move forward. A one-size-fits-all regulation would not do the job.”

EPA’s data show that methane emissions account for only 9% of the total GHGs the US produces, “and natural gas only accounts for a quarter of that,” added ANGA Chief Economist Erica Bowman, who also participated in the teleconference.

In a Nov. 12 presentation to the Environmental Law Institute, American Petroleum Institute Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director Howard J. Feldman noted that EPA’s GHG inventory found that US methane emissions from gas systems fell 17% from 1990 to 2012. Gas production as measured by the US Energy Information Administration grew 37% domestically during the same period.

Methane emissions requirements should not be changed now so existing rules can be implemented fully and measurements can catch up with the standards, Feldman said. “If any changes are made, they need to ensure they do not compromise safety, and can be achieved cost-effectively with adequate lead times,” he said.

Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Pres. Donald F. Santa said the proposed additions to EPA’s Subpart W reporting program could help EPA and all parties get a better idea of both the volume of methane being released in the atmosphere and the sources of those releases, depending on the method the agency uses to collect the information.

Pipeline blowdowns

Santa said that pipeline blowdowns, which EPA proposes having operators measure as part of its reporting requirements, are a critical and necessary pipeline construction and maintenance component. “This is one of the reasons why widespread replacement of pipeline will not significantly reduce releases from gas transmission pipelines, i.e., the pipe itself is not the source of material releases and its replacement may in fact result in greater releases,” Santa said.

“As a result, we believe it’s important for EPA to work with the federal pipeline safety regulator [the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration] to reduce the number of occasions where blowdowns will be required in order to comply with pipeline inspection requirements,” he said. “In other words, can we find ways to accomplish the same pipeline safety goals without blowing down the pipeline?”

INGAA and its members are involved in research efforts to develop pipeline integrity management practices and new in-line inspection tools that reduce the number and volume of blowdowns, including those in connection with testing the material strength of pipelines, and therefore reduce the amount of methane emissions, Santa said.

He said that interstate gas pipelines have made great strides already in reducing methane release. “The gas transmission industry reduced the number of leaks along the pipe by 94%, preventing 122 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions over the past three decades, as a result of pipeline integrity and maintenance programs and continued investment in new pipeline facilities,” Santa said.

Further steps

INGAA members are committed to go further by establishing guidelines to reduce pipeline equipment emissions, “with a particular focus on the types of equipment with the largest emissions profile,” Santa said.

Lee O. Fuller, the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s vice-president of government relations, said EPA’s proposal to expand Subpart W reporting actually is a response to a Mar. 19, 2013, petition by the Clean Air Task Force, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club.

The efforts may be part of “swirling issues related to methane regulation” generated by US President Barack Obama’s Climate Effort plan, but are by no means the only significant actions the oil and gas industry anticipates, he told OGJ via e-mail.

Actions generated from five “white papers” EPA published and the US Bureau of Land Management’s venting and flaring initiative also could be significant, Fuller said. (The white papers focused on fraced oil wells, liquids unloading, leaks upstream of the distribution system, pneumatic devices, and compressors, API’s Feldman indicated during his Nov. 13 ELI presentation.)

“These actions will not likely be announced until December, probably after EPA announces its proposed ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) on Dec. 1,” Fuller said. “The ozone NAAQS can also bear on hydrocarbon regulations that reduce methane.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].