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BOEM proposes new air quality regs Agency says new rule would modernize and strengthen regulations while providing consistency in managing industry emissions ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is proposing new regulations for air emissions from offshore oil and gas activities on the U.S. outer continental shelf. In 2011 the U.S. Congress transferred jurisdiction for outer continental shelf air quality from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Department of the Interior. Previously Interior had only been responsible for air quality in part of the Gulf of Mexico.
Rather than issuing air quality permits, BOEM, an agency within Interior, requires air emissions specifications to be documented within exploration and development plans that BOEM approves. The new regulations spell out new standards that will need to be met in approved plans.
“This proposal takes a balanced approach to modernize BOEM’s regulations and ensure compliance with today’s air quality standards,” said Janice Schneider, BOEM assistant secretary, land and minerals management, on March 17 when announcing the proposed regulations. “These proposed improvements will minimize harm to human health and the environment from oil and gas activities.”
Cross-reference with EPA BOEM says that the new regulations, which will target the emission of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter, will cross-reference BOEM’s standards for air pollutants to those of EPA. The regulations would modernize and strengthen the requirements for identifying, modeling, measuring and tracking pollutant emissions, BOEM says. And instead of measuring pollution impacts onshore from the coastline, impacts would be measured landward from a state’s seaward boundary, typically three nautical miles offshore.
The regulations would require an offshore operator to aggregate for analysis the emissions from closely spaced activities and facilities, regardless of whether the activities fall within a single plan. And, while current regulations only consider emissions from support vessels located within 25 miles of a facility, the proposed regulations would require consideration of emissions from a support vessel during its entire transit.
The rule includes a schedule for ensuring the compliance of all plans, including previously approved plans, with the new regulations. And the new regulations will provide BOEM with a single, consistent set of requirements, appropriate to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic offshore, BOEM says.
The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed regulations following publication in the Federal Register.
“Informed by our longstanding relationship with operators, this proposal incorporates key aspects of today’s practices into our regulations, while also bringing our regulations up to speed with the best available science,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, BOEM director. “We will review public comments and conduct rigorous stakeholder engagement before finalizing the regulations.”
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