EPA Floats More-Flexible Audit Policy For New Oil & Gas Facility Owners

摘要

EPA has released a new draft self-audit policy giving new owners of oil and gas facilities more latitude to negotiate timeframes for fixing equipment leaks, following through with prior agency suggestions that its current policy should be streamlined to address numerous oil and gas operations and a pattern of Clean Air Act violations at such facilities.Once finalized, the draft would replace a default presumption under the current 2008 audit policy that new owners have 60 days to correct environmental violations they discover. More flexible language in the new plan allows the agency and the owner to negotiate the timeframe for proposed fixes.The agreement, however, docs call on participating companies to correct some violations within 60 days or seek an extension, including emissions violations "unrelated to engineering and/or design issues," according to its text.The policy appears aimed at equipment leaks that could release emissions of both ozone-forming volatile organic compounds and the potent greenhouse gas methane, with several direct references to storage tanks or related equipment.