EPA Criticizes State for Shale Air Pollution Rules
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
6 December 2011
By Don Hopey
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has strongly criticized
Pennsylvania's new policy guidelines for regulating air pollutants
emitted by Marcellus Shale gas wells and development sites located
in close proximity to one another.
According to the EPA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection's Oct. 12 draft policy differs from established federal
law and the state's own air pollution control plan by imposing new
limitations on the aggregation of air emissions from multiple
shale gas industry sources such as gas wells, compressor pumping
stations and pipelines.
That state policy, which amended a policy adopted by the Rendell
administration in December 2010, uses the physical distance of one
quarter mile between the shale gas facilities as a major
qualifying criteria for determining if they should be considered
as individual minor sources or a single, major source of air
pollutants.
A broader geographic policy of aggregation consistent with the
federal Clean Air Act would result in multiple gas development
activities being treated as a single major source, and as such it
would require them to meet stricter emissions standards to prevent
deterioration of existing air quality.
"The [DEP] draft guidance appears to alter the conventional way in
which aggregation determinations have been made federally and by
PADEP," said Diana Esher, EPA Region III air protection division
director, in an agency comment letter dated Nov. 21.
"For example the guidance imposes new terms and requirements when
considering the 'contiguous or adjacent' nature of two or more
sources and provides a bright line test of distance between
sources when making aggregation determinations."
She said in her letter and in comments attached to the letter that
the EPA will review and comment on the DEP's air pollution source
aggregation determinations.
The DEP did not respond Monday afternoon to several requests for
comment about the EPA's criticism or the agency's plans to review
DEP decision making. When the new policy, which de-emphasizes the
inter-relatedness of oil and gas facilities, was announced, DEP
Secretary Michael Krancer characterized it as a "practical,
common-sense and legally required approach to air aggregation
issues."
The DEP's air staff began implementing the new policy on an
interim basis on Oct. 12, and they took public comments until Nov.
21.
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said
the industry supports the state policy's "prescriptive definition
of proximity" because it "gives predictability for development"
while still allowing regulators to consider other factors
depending on the specific site.
"That gives predictability for development," she said. "It's a
good compromise."
The Clean Air Council, one of several environmental organizations
that criticized the DEP policy when it was issued, applauded the
EPA review and called on the federal agency to "ensure that the
[state] guidance is repealed and public health and the environment
is protected in Pennsylvania."
Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive officer for Citizens
for Pennsylvania's Future, a statewide environmental organization
active on Marcellus Shale issues, said the DEP "thumbed its nose
at the EPA" by rejecting established federal aggregation policy
guidelines.
"What we need in Pennsylvania, and deserve in Pennsylvania, are
world-class standards for controlling drilling pollution," Ms.
Jarrett said. "The EPA's standards are better. And you would
think, given the state's long history of bad air and the cost of
bringing it into compliance, that the DEP would be eager on
economic grounds to restrict emissions."
Thomas Au, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania
Chapter, said the EPA should closely monitor the DEP's permitting
of Marcellus Shale development to ensure it is consistent with
federal policies.
"If many gas industry sources of air pollution escape strict air
pollution controls," Mr. Au said, "the regional air quality would
degrade. Eventually, whole counties would not attain the national
ambient air quality standards."
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.