EPA Agrees to Reconsider Oil and Gas Emission ‘Loopholes’
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to strengthen pollution regulations for certain oil and gas facilities and equipment after environmental groups complained the standards hadn’t been updated in more than a decade.
In a consent decree approved on Monday by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., the EPA agreed to review and update its emissions rules to more fully regulate hazardous air pollutants from oil and gas storage, production and transmission facilities. Under the settlement, the government agreed to propose and finalize new rules in 2024 and 2025, but did not commit to make specific changes.
Environmental groups, including the California Communities Against Toxics, the Sierra Club and others, had sued the agency in April 2022, claiming the agency had an obligation under the Clean Air Act to update the rules every eight years but had not done so since 2012.
Their lawsuit said the regulations finalized in 2012 didn’t cover all of the oil and gas equipment and processes that might emit pollutants, like storage tanks or oil wells that can leak gasses. It sought to force the government to consider requiring new technologies to monitor for leaking, and to close what they called loopholes that allow operators to avoid liability for emissions violations during equipment malfunctions.
“We’re hopeful the agency does the right thing here and finally addresses any unregulated areas and protects communities,” said attorney Adam Kron of Earthjustice, who represented the environmental groups.
The groups said low-income communities and communities of color are most likely to be harmed by hazardous air pollutants like benzene emitted by the facilities, and that 57 million people live within 30 miles of the facilities across the U.S.
The EPA, which did not admit to any legal violations in the settlement, declined to comment Tuesday.
The case is California Communities Against Toxics et al. v. Michael Regan et al., case No. 1:22-cv-01012, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
For the groups: Adam Kron and Adrienne Lee of Earthjustice.
For the government: Sue Chen of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Source: Reuters
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