WASHINGTON - Today, the Environmental Protection Agency issued two new rules simplifying and easing the burden on the oil and natural gas industry in complying with the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). The rules changes maintain the basic framework of air emissions regulations of oil and gas production but alter the needlessly burdensome and flawed provisions, which were implemented due to political pressures within the Obama administration.
“These widely anticipated rules announced today by the Trump Administration are no doubt good news for the Kansas oil and natural gas community, which has been forced to comply with onerous and politically motivated Obama-era restrictions,” said U.S. Congressman Roger Marshall, M.D. “While Kansas oil and natural gas producers recognize the need for air emissions management, these new rules will enable producers to exercise environmentally-conscious practices, without the costs and burdens of unnecessary regulations.”
The new rules are:
· Final policy amendments to the 2012 and 2016 NSPS, which remove the transmission and storage segment from the rule, rescind VOC and methane emissions standards for that segment, and rescind methane emissions standards for the production and processing segments; and
· Final technical amendments to the 2016 NSPS, which make a number of changes to the rule to simplify compliance, including changes to the leaks monitoring and repair schedules for gathering and boosting compressor stations and low-production wells, changes to recordkeeping and reporting requirements (leaks are called “fugitive emissions” in the rule), and changes to incorporate several states’ requirements, among others.