Underground Construction - November 2018 - 7

a hit among many Democrats.
"The bill substantially robs states
of the rights they exercise under
the Clean Water Act and abandons the cooperative federalism
approach that has been a centerpiece of federal environmental
law," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
(D-NY), a member of the committee, at the hearings.
However, some Democratic opposition might be reversed
by labor unions' support for
the bill. At the August hearings,
Brent Booker, secretary-treasurer, North American's Building
Trades Unions, complained about
New York's blocking of the Constitution pipeline.
"This permit denial is still
delaying about 2,400 direct and
indirect jobs from the pipeline
construction, generating $130
million in labor income and economic activity for the region," he
said. "The decision continues to
cost local governments approximately $13 million in annual
property tax revenue."

EPA Proposes Changes
to Compressors, Leak
Repair Rule
would bring Marcellus shale gas
from Pennsylvania to New
England - where natural gas
supplies last winter were badly
compromised.
The Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2018 (S.
3303) was introduced in late July
by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.),
chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Hearings were held on Aug.
16. The bill amends Section 401
of the Clean Water Act to clarify
these reviews are limited to water quality impacts only. States,
when evaluating water quality,
could only consider discharges
from the federally permitted or
licensed activity itself, not from

other unrelated sources.
The Interstate Natural Gas
Association of America (INGAA)
agrees with the change. "INGAA
supports this measure to bring
clarity to section 401 of the Clean
Water Act," said Don Santa,
INGAA president and CEO. "In
recent years, a handful of states
have used this provision of federal law to disrupt or delay infrastructure projects, sometimes
using justifications unrelated to
water quality."
The Barrasso bill will not pass
in 2018; the GOP is essentially signaling its intent to pursue
the issue in 2019, the success of
which will depend on the makeup
of the new Congress. It won't be

The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) proposed changes
to its major rule on oil and gas air
emissions of methane and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs),
including an easing of provisions
affecting pipeline compressor
stations and leak repair. The
oil and gas New Source Performance Standards were finalized
by the Obama administration on
June 3, 2016, and subsequently
became the subject of petitions
for reconsideration by industry
players, including the American Petroleum Institute (API).
The standards were then put on
hold and reviewed by the EPA
in accordance with an executive
order signed by President Trump
regarding existing regulations

that potentially burden the development of domestic energy
resources, and what regulations
are necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply
with the law.
The Sept. 11, 2018 EPA proposed rule relates to specific
issues for which reconsideration
was granted. That includes several revisions to the requirements
for the collection of fugitive emissions components located at well
sites and the collection of fugitive
emissions components located
at compressor stations. It is that
last change regarding compressor
stations that may reduce costs
for pipelines. In total, the EPA
said its oil and gas targeted improvements package is expected
to save up to approximately $484
million in regulatory costs from
2019 to 2025, or $75 million
annually.
INGAA had argued that the
EPA's mandate for quarterly
emissions at compressor stations
was unnecessary. Instead, INGAA
wants annual surveys, based on
its belief that the agency overestimates emissions using Method
21 because the data is not representative of the oil and natural
gas sector. The EPA said it may
support a revision of the evaluation of the Method 21 alternative that is more representative
of the oil and natural gas sector.
The INGAA Board of Directors
on July 19 formally affirmed its
commitment to minimize methane emissions from interstate
natural gas transmission and
storage facilities through a series
of voluntary pledges.
API also supports the revision.
"We welcome EPA's efforts to
get this right, and the proposed
changes could ensure that the
rule is based on best engineering
practices and is cost-effective,"
said API Senior Director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Howard Feldman.
UConOnline.com | NOVEMBER 2018

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Underground Construction - November 2018

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