Environmental Alert
(by Michael Winek, Gary Steinbauer, Gina Falaschi)
Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) published a proposed rulemaking in the May 23, 2020, Pennsylvania Bulletin entitled “Control of VOC Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Sources.” 50 Pa.B. 2633. This proposed rulemaking would have Pennsylvania adopt reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements and RACT emission limitations for existing oil and natural gas sources of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. As proposed, the rule would apply to owners and operators of any of the following oil and natural gas sources of VOC emissions that were in existence on or before the effective date of this rulemaking: storage vessels (in all segments except natural gas distribution), natural gas-driven pneumatic controllers, natural gas-driven diaphragm pumps, centrifugal compressors and reciprocating compressors, and fugitive emission components.
This proposal is based on EPA’s October 2016 Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) for the Oil and Gas Industry, which provide RACT requirements for VOC emissions from existing oil and gas sources. Pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act, EPA established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six “criteria pollutants,” which includes ground-level ozone. Ground level ozone is created in a photochemical reaction of oxides of nitrogen (another criteria pollutant) and VOCs in the presence of sunlight. The federal statute requires any (i) existing major source of VOC emissions (generally more than 50 tons per year of VOC depending on location) in an ozone nonattainment area and (ii) any other source (i.e., minor sources) for which EPA has issued a CTG to implement RACT to control emissions, consistent with the issued CTG. Pennsylvania is in the northeast ozone transport region, which makes the Commonwealth nonattainment for ozone, and thus triggers RACT under federal law. …