Last night in the small community of Dish, Texas, Dr. Armendariz, EPA Region 6 Administrator, talked about getting tough with the Oil & Gas Industry. Dr. Armendariz said some things take time to change and certainly the implementation and enforcement of new regulations will not happen overnight.
Dr. Armendariz said that every regulation and enforcement has to be tied to a law. Meaning that the Industry's broad exemptions from federal environmental and health statutes make it difficult to enforce some rules.
The EPA is currently traveling around the country and collecting data on air and water conditions in areas where drilling is occurring. They will use this data to implement new rules. It is their intention to hand down new rules in the next 12 to 18 months.
Dr. Armendariz mentioned that he met with some of the largest drilling companies in Texas the other day and demanded to know what is going into the air. He gave them 30 days to report back to him.
Some good news is that the EPA has the National Enforcement Initiative and can do random, unannounced inspections of natural gas production sites and issue fines. Currently Region 6 has about 150 EPA inspectors that do enforcement. Dr. Armendariz said they will hit those who are in violation hard, over and over again, to set an example that regulation and accountability is a must.
Dr. Armendariz touched on the Hydraulic Fracturing study being done and mentioned that they are looking at the impacts it has on all the different shale areas.
Click here TX Sharon reports
Click here Peggy Heinkle-Wolfe report in the Denton Records Chronicle.
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2 comments:
Geez, just recycle the water and put vapor recovery on those pad sites and we can ALL get on with our lives. Quit spending money on spinsters, PR, community outreach and the like. We don't want outreach, we want implementation of real solutions. You STILL aren't listening.
Now that we have been enlightended on the $$ Flower Mound has in natural gas, all the drillers can definately afford to incorporate "Drill Right Practices" by OGAP.
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