WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
U.S. Health and Environmental Groups Call on 32 States to Protect Clean Air from Oil and Gas Drilling

Air Quality Directors Must Follow Landmark EPA Ruling Limiting Air Pollution
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x1303

DENVER-In the wake of a landmark U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruling, a coalition of health and environmental groups led by WildEarth Guardians today called on 32 states to hold the oil and gas industry accountable to aggregation safeguards under the Clean Air Act.

In a letter sent to air quality agency directors in every state that produces oil and gas, two dozen health and environmental groups called on states to follow an October 8 EPA ruling that overturned an air pollution permit issued by the State of Colorado. That ruling rejected Colorado’s approach to permitting oil and gas operations, holding the state must aggregate emissions under the Clean Air Act. The holding affects 32 states with producing oil and gas operations.

“Cumulatively, oil and gas drilling is a major threat to clean air throughout the United States and aggregation is key to addressing this threat,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “This is about protecting public health and the environment. We’re simply asking that states hold the oil and gas industry accountable to the Clean Air Act wherever they drill.”

Under the Clean Air Act, connected sources of air pollution must be aggregated together when determining what constitutes a source for permitting purposes. Aggregation is a standard requirement that ensures connected sources of air pollution are not broken down into smaller sources, thereby allowing polluters to avoid pollution control requirements.

Aggregation safeguards are especially important for oil and gas operations, which often consist of hundreds to thousands of connected polluting pieces of equipment including drill rigs, compressor engines, and leaking pipelines and tanks. Individually, these sources are small, but cumulatively, they are large sources of pollution. When aggregated, many oil and gas operations will be required to use up-to-date pollution controls.

Colorado and other states have failed to aggregate pollution from oil and gas operations. Consequently, states have overlooked the cumulative pollution from oil and gas wells and other smaller sources when issuing permits. The failure to aggregate has led to numerous air quality problems throughout the country, including unhealthy ground-level ozone levels in oil and gas producing regions of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

“Colorado’s flawed, piecemeal approach to keeping air pollution from oil and gas drilling in check has been the same as other states,” said Nichols. “It’s time to stop drilling away clean air; that starts with ensuring states aggregate emissions.”

Today’s letter calls on states to embrace aggregation and rein in unchecked oil and gas development. The letter points to the EPA’s ruling, which was issued in response to a petition filed by WildEarth Guardians challenging Colorado’s failure to aggregate (the ruling can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/region7/programs/artd/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/anadarko_response2008.pdf). The ruling reversed a Bush administration rollback and established that states must conduct a rigorous assessment of oil and gas operations and aggregate emissions from interrelated sources of pollution. The ruling opens the door for aggregating oil and gas wells and other small sources together with larger sources, such as natural gas processing plants.

Read the submitted letter.