Facing EPA Doubts On 'Wells,' Groups Renew Push For TRI Rule For Drillers

摘要

Environmentalists are renewing their push for EPA to require the oil and gas sector to report chemical releases to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), citing new data that large midstream facilities such as compressor, fraction-ation and processing plants meet the law's criteria even though EPA has doubts over whether TRI should apply to drilling "wells." In a Jan. 30 letter to Steve Knizer, the TRI program's acting director, a coalition of more than a dozen groups cite new data on oil and gas releases in six states to make the case that even absent releases from drilling wells, there is an ample number of facilities within the industry that meets the inventory's thresholds to justify regulation of the sector. "It is our understanding that the largest issue for EPA in considering the addition of the industry is how the industry's smallest units - such as wells - would fit with the definition of 'facility,'" the letter says.