On June 3, 2016, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) for the oil and natural gas industry in the Federal Register for notice and comment. Once the comment period ends and EPA provides responses to all significant comments, the amended proposal will be sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. If approved, and U.S. EPA is issued a valid OMB control number, U.S. EPA would begin collecting information from oil and natural gas companies. The Agency envisions the collection process to begin in October 2016.
The purpose of the ICR is to collect detailed information to support regulation of existing oil and natural gas stationary sources. This is in contrast with recent regulatory efforts, which have focused (primarily) on new or modified sources. The information from the proposed ICR will be used to develop a pathway for the phase-in of new standards, rather than making those standards become effective for all affected sources at once.
Based on the proposal, the ICR will be divided into two parts. The first part will be sent to all oil and natural gas operators and requires information with respect to the company and its operations. The second part requires more detailed information with respect to specific sources and could involve a significant time investment from environmental and operations teams to complete. In addition, the second part of the ICR may require information that many organizations would consider confidential. Companies with confidentiality concerns may want to involve their legal teams in this process.
Also, keep in mind that this ICR will be issued under U.S. EPA’s authority under Section 114 of the Clean Air Act. This means that the Agency has the legal authority to require all responses to the ICR be certified by a responsible official and establish a deadline for providing a response.
For those interested in reading more about the proposed ICR, the U.S. EPA has a dedicated website here. Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. will be following the ICR approval process closely, and plans on updating this post as events unfold. In the meantime, if you have any questions with respect to the ICR or other recent federal air pollution regulatory activity, please contact Ababu Gelaye at 888-598-6808 or agelaye@cecinc.com.
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