EnergyWire reports:
Industry efforts to get exemptions for shale gas from air rules U.S. EPA is putting together to regulate oil and gas operations invited backlash yesterday from a coalition of environmental groups.
The groups took issue with the American Petroleum Institute’s efforts to convince EPA and members of Congress that regulating emissions of benzene, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and, as a side product, methane during unconventional natural gas drilling would cost too much.
The environmental groups also expressed concern that the new rules are not retroactive and do not affect equipment already installed at wellpads.
EPA is expected to announce on April 17 new rules regulating emissions from point sources of oil and gas production systems. The draft rules, released last year, received so many comments, the agency had to postpone release of the final rules by two weeks. The draft is currently under review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
At issue is gas leakage from the equipment across the industry, including conventional oil and gas wells, unconventional shale wells, storage tanks and compressor stations.
Although a few longtime oil- and gas-producing states such as Wyoming and Colorado already have rules with stringent emissions limits, most others do not…
Before any federal agency attempts to regulate fracing, the should be required to prove that they have engineers and scientists that understand the process sufficiently to develop rational regulatory criteria. This should end attempts to regulate for the foreseeable future.
“Industry can afford” What BS and only idiots would believe that. Increase the cost of production and the cost of the product will go up or supply will go down. That’s what the enviro’s want.