Natural Gas

The booming oil and gas industry is facing new scrutiny over its Clean Air Act permits covering methane and air toxics emissions in Western states, particularly in Colorado where Democrats are codifying sweeping new limits on drilling and more than a dozen companies are facing citizen suits over their allegedly lax air permits.

Brushing aside concerns from governors and others, President Donald Trump is slated to issue an executive order April 10 that will order EPA to “review and update” its policies governing state reviews of federal projects under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), with a senior official indicating it will likely curtail states' current review powers.

A senior EPA official says the agency will consider state requests for pacts allowing new oil and gas facility owners that comply with voluntary state audit programs to also qualify for penalty relief under a recently issued federal policy, though the official said EPA's past enforcement history makes such agreements largely unnecessary.

State environmental commissioners are joining environmentalists to urge EPA and state governments to bolster the use of “alternative compliance” provisions in their rules limiting methane releases from oil and gas operations, a step they argue could ease industry costs while still delivering equivalent emissions cuts.