|
Bureau of Land Management officials in one of the West's most active
oil and gas hotspots have launched a new study aimed at gathering
information that will allow the agency to require energy companies to
cut their air emissions.
With areas downwind of oil and gas operations poised to be in
violation of new air quality standards and energy development
continuing to skyrocket in the Interior West, BLM's Vernal, Utah, field
office is undertaking a study to characterize the extent of the problem
and project how emissions from energy development may increase as
production expands in the Uinta Basin. The agency hopes to use the data
to determine how and where to reduce emissions from wells, compressors,
storage tanks and other equipment when companies undertake new projects
tapping the federal mineral estate. The agency is also working with
area tribes and other federal agencies, as well as the Utah Division of
Air Quality.
The data will also allow BLM to more easily
consider the potential cumulative impacts of multiple projects, said
Bill Stringer, manager of BLM's Vernal field office. With thousands of
new wells predicted for the region over the next few years, that will
be important information to have, he said.
"Everyone's very excited, because it allows us to analyze incremental impacts," he said. "That hasn't been done before."
Stringer
said the study will allow BLM to require certain restrictions in oil
and gas permits that would decrease the amount of nitrogen oxides,
particulate matter and other pollutants emitted from equipment used to
drill, pump and transport oil and gas. For instance, BLM, which manages
almost 2 million acres of mineral rights in the basin, could stipulate
that a company must use a certain number of electric compressors, he
said.
"It allows me to evaluate projects and see what
steps can be taken to reduce air emissions," Stringer said. "We know
we're going to be a center of activity, so we figure, let's go ahead
and lead the charge."
Oil and gas development is expected
to almost double in Uinta County in the next few years. About 10,000
new wells are either planned or already being developed in the county;
almost 6,000 wells are currently in production.
But there
is little information about pollutant levels in rural areas, or how
much oil and gas operations are contributing to those levels, Stringer
said.
BLM in Colorado has also begun looking at ways to
reduce emissions from oil and gas development in the northwestern part
of the state, which borders Stringer's management area. Stringer said
he plans to coordinate with his Colorado cohorts.
As air
quality deteriorates in the Interior West from vehicles, power plants,
oil and gas development and other sources, state and federal agencies
are increasingly working together to assess the problem and come up
with solutions. The Western Regional Air Partnership, organized by the
Western Governors' Association, conducted a broad inventory of air
emissions, including those from oil and gas operations. Stringer said
the Uinta Basin study will gather more detailed information on
emissions in the immediate area.
EPA's Larry Svoboda, who
oversees the NEPA program for Region 8 in the agency's Denver, Colo.
office, said air quality is becoming an increasing problem in rural
areas in the West, in part due to the expansion of oil and gas
operations.
"We're being just inundated with environmental
impact statements on energy-related development," especially in Utah,
Colorado and Wyoming, he said. "We are concerned about air quality as
the result of all this development."
BLM's Uinta Basin study will be an important step in addressing those impacts, he added.
At
a meeting in Vernal last August, Brock LaBaron, manager of the Utah
Division of Air Quality's Technical Analysis department, told BLM
officials that the agency is "very concerned about the effects of
increased oil and gas activity throughout the state." Environmental
studies for oil and gas projects "do not take into account the number
of individual projects that may be occurring in a given area," he added.
EPA
is crafting new standards for ground-level ozone and particulate
matter, and air quality officials say they expect them to be more
stringent than the current limits. With new standards on the horizon,
BLM wants to get ahead of the curve, Stringer said.
Industry takes a proactive stance
The industry supports
the Uinta Basin study; in fact, it is paying for it. Kathleen Sgamma,
government affairs manager for the Independent Petroleum Association of
Mountain States, which is helping to fund the $300,000 analysis, said
knowing how much oil and gas operations are affecting air quality
compared to other sources will help clarify what industry needs to do
to reduce emissions. The study will also provide a broad air quality
data set that will help expedite environmental reviews for individual
projects, she added.
"Independent oil and gas producers
are dedicated to responsible development, so we want to make sure our
emissions are as low as possible," Sgamma said. "We support ensuring we
know what the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development are, and we
also want to know what other sources are in the basin."
Environ,
a California-based environmental consulting firm that has worked with
local, state and federal government entities, will conduct the study,
Sgamma said.
LaBaron of the Utah Division of Air Quality
noted that if air quality deteriorates to the point where an area is in
repeated violation of air quality standards, EPA could impose strict
controls that slow production.
"It would definitely change
things [for the industry], from the kind of technology they'd have to
use to the rate of development," LaBaron said.
Jeremy
Nichols with Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action said he is encouraged by
BLM's effort to reduce emissions from oil and gas development in the
Uinta Basin but expressed concern that the industry might have too much
influence over the study.
"We are encouraged, but we're
concerned what may be behind this effort," Nichols said. "This may be
an effort by industry to sort of do their own inventory and paint a
picture that everything's going to be fine. We'll see what the results
look like."
Nichols added that Environ has a good
reputation, but whether the Uinta Basin study will be unbiased "depends
on the parameters they're given."
Stringer emphasized that
while the study will be funded by the industry, BLM will oversee it.
Budget constraints prevented the agency from paying for the study
itself, he added.
April Reese writes from Santa Fe, N.M.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
