Groups press EPA to increase regulation of energy industry emissions

Citing threats to human health and the environment, environmental groups are increasing efforts to force the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen air quality standards for the oil and gas industry.

"Ramped up oil and gas drilling has outgrown the regulations meant to protect clean air, public health and the environment," said Jen Powis, the Sierra Club's senior regional representative for Texas, in a conference call on Wednesday with representatives from five other environmental advocacy groups and individuals affected by drilling.

"Regulations are unclear, there are a variety of loopholes and because different regulatory agencies are doing different things, there's no [analysis of] cumulative impacts," Powis said. For example, in the Barnett Shale formation near Fort Worth, Texas, where more than 9,000 horizontal wells operate, no entity has assessed the full impact of those wells, she said.

Deborah Rogers, a landowner and artisan cheese maker in Fort Worth whose livelihood depends on the quality of her pastures, said she spent $30,000 out of pocket to have environmental testing done on her property after an energy company began drilling near her home and the air quality plummeted. The test results have shown high levels of benzene and carbon disulfide, she said.

The groups are urging citizens to attend public meetings EPA will be sponsoring on Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 in Dallas and Denver, respectively. EPA is holding the meetings as the result of a legal settlement earlier this year between the agency and Southwestern environmental groups over its obligations to regulate oil and natural gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. A court-ordered consent decree requires EPA to review air regulations affecting those industries. The agency must propose standards by Jan. 31, 2011, or determine standards do not apply.

While natural gas drilling has increased nationwide, the San Juan basin in the Four Corners region of the Southwest has seen some of the most intense activity in recent years. There are 35,000 natural gas wells along with 10,000 compressors in the rural region, said Mike Eisenfeld with the San Juan Citizens Alliance. Three EPA regional offices, four states and a number of Native American tribes all play oversight roles, Eisenfeld said, but none is adequately regulating emissions.

Voluntary mitigation measures have not sufficiently addressed air quality problems in the basin, he said. "We don't have complete inventories, we don't have strict oversight, we have spotty permitting. Many of our natural gas facilities are unpermitted, yet they are 24-hour emitters," he said.

Gopa Ross said she became involved in the Sierra Club's Rocky Mountain Chapter after an energy company began drilling near her home in southern Colorado. She said she developed headaches and nosebleeds as a result of toxic fumes released during the drilling process.

"We need the EPA to do an honest, independent study with scientific data and investigate what has been going on across the nation," Ross said.