Suspension of Pollution Rules for Drilling Sought
Environmentalists decry Corbett move
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
26 February 2011
By Don Hopey
Just a week after repealing a policy requiring an environmental
assessment of Marcellus Shale gas wells in state parks, the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced it is
suspending and reconsidering several key air pollution controls
governing the drilling industry.
The changes, detailed in Friday's Pennsylvania Bulletin where official
state actions are listed, would eliminate a guideline in place since
December that requires the state to consider and regulate the
collective or aggregate emissions of well operations in a region.
It's a directive that follows federal Clean Air Act regulations and, if
air pollution emissions produce unhealthy air, could result in tighter
pollution controls than if the wells are regulated individually.
The bulletin notice said the department is soliciting public comments
on "whether any guidance or policy should be considered on this topic,
and, if so, what such a policy or guidance might provide."
Environmental groups and Democrats criticized Friday's announced
changes as another step by Gov. Tom Corbett to dismantle environmental
and public health protections and boost the state's booming natural gas
industry.
"This is troubling," said Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive
officer of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a statewide
environmental group active on Marcellus issues.
She said that by rescinding the rule the DEP has lost an important tool
for evaluating and reducing air pollution.
DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said the agency's action was done with the
intention of gathering input.
"The bottom line is that this document that DEP has rescinded was not a
regulation. It did not change anything, except that it is opening the
door for public comment. We look at all of these cases in a very
specific case by case basis, and rescinding this document has not
changed that," she said.
The DEP also is seeking public comment on a policy adopted last summer
that regulates emissions from non-road, "stationary engines," including
natural gas compressor station engines, which can be sources of
smog-producing emissions.
Proposed revisions to emissions rules for those engines would, "offer
greater flexibility to the regulated community," said the bulletin
notice posted by DEP Acting Secretary Michael Krancer.
Joe Osborne, a Group Against Smog and Pollution attorney who has worked
on the aggregation issue in West Virginia, said the practical effect of
the guidance was to provide certainty to DEP permitting personnel about
how complicated federal aggregation rules should be applied in the
state's oil and gas operations.
"The point of the federal policies are to regulate air pollution in a
region," Mr. Osborne said. "When you have a lot of sources that in
total produce a lot of pollution emissions, you need to aggregate them
and subject them to regulations that will control and reduce the
pollution."
At this time, he said he is unaware of any sites in Pennsylvania where
wells, condensate tanks and connected compressor stations have been
aggregated and considered as a single major source by DEP regulators.
Approximately 2,800 Marcellus wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania,
and industry estimates indicate as many as 60,000 wells could be
drilled into the 380-million-year-old shale by 2030.
"The natural gas industry can provide environmental and health
benefits, especially if natural gas can be used to replace coal in
electric power generation," Ms. Jarrett said. "But those benefits can
be overwhelmed if the production phase is not tightly regulated with
strong rules."
Ms. Jarrett said the Wednesday fire at a Chesapeake Energy-owned
Marcellus well site in Washington County clearly shows the industry
needs more, not less, regulation.
"We need the DEP to act like a cop on the beat, but it's not doing
that."
Written comments on the rescinded guidance and engine emissions rules
should be mailed to Virendra Trivedi, Environmental Engineer Manager,
New Source Review Section, Division of Permits, Bureau of Air Quality,
12th Floor, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P. O. Box 8468,
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8468.
The department will also accept comments submitted by e-mail to
vtrivedi@state.pa.us. Comments must be received by the DEP by May 26.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.