Tagged: epa

     The Environmental Protection Agency will require pollution controls be improved at the Jim Bridger plant near Rock Springs and the Dave Johnson plant near Glenrock, but some don’t think the requirements go far enough.  The changes are part of the E-P-A’s regional haze plan for Wyoming. 

Conservation groups have complained that many of Wyoming’s Coal fire power plants are getting older and that major upgrades are needed to reduce pollution.  Shannon Anderson of the Powder River Basin Resource Council says the state is a leader in coal production, but should not be a leader in coal pollution.

A group of Pavillion residents says Wyoming officials betrayed them by delaying the release of information tentatively connecting hydraulic fracturing with groundwater pollution in the area.

An Associated Press investigation shows that Gov. Matt Mead convinced the Environmental Protection Agency to delay its draft report on the contamination by a full month. Mead and other state officials used the extra time to try and debunk the findings before they could harm the oil and gas industries.

The EPA has since agreed to conduct more testing and submit to further scientific review before compiling a final report.

This morning, the Environmental Protection Agency released federal standards under the Clean Air Act that will control air pollution from hydraulically fractured natural gas and oil wells.

This is the first set of federal standards to control air pollution from fracking.

The regulations aim to decrease air pollution caused by volatile organic compounds and other chemicals… and will also reduce the amount of methane, which is a greenhouse gas, released into the air.

Policy Director of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Climate and Clean Air Program, David Doniger,  says the regulations are moving in the right direction.  

    The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release some new air pollution regulations surrounding natural gas development.  Earthjustice Attorney Robin Cooley saysit’s been 25 years since the E-P-A last evaluated standards and the new ones are overdue.  She says the industry is much different than it used to be.

"We know that the current rules are inadequate. They don't protect public health. The pollution problems are mounting by the day and expanding into new areas."

This week, the Obama administration announced new regulations  for carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants.

When the Environmental Protection Agency determined that carbon dioxide emissions were endangering the public in 2009, Ron Surdam, Director of the Carbon Management Institute at the University of Wyoming, says he saw the writing on the wall: there would be a cap on new power plant emissions, which is exactly what the EPA announced this week.

While new natural gas plant technology meets the requirement of one thousand pounds of carbon produced per megawatt hour, coal plants far exceed those standards.  According to Surdam, that means that within the next decade, coal plants as we know them could fall out of favor, and Wyoming’s economy could take a hit.

State, tribal and federal officials have agreed to work collaboratively in Pavillion to do further sampling and collect more data in their water monitoring wells. The move is expected to push back a final report on a possible link between water contamination and hydraulic fracturing in the area until later this year.

In a statement by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the agency explained that it would work with Wyoming, Tribes and local residents to find an affordable, long-term drinking water solution. She also said more sampling would have to be done before a final report could be issued.

In the wake of a congressional hearing over a draft report by the Environmental Protection Agency that links hydraulic fracturing with water contamination in the town of Pavillion, the Wind River Tribes are pushing to take a bigger role in the investigation.

“It’s critically important that we really get into the center of these discussions, that we make sure that our sovereignty and our jurisdiction is not infringed upon in any way and that we make sure that our Wind River Environmental Quality Department and our unique legal and political relationship with the United States government is upheld in a manner that supports and upholds our jurisdiction and our authority,” says Eastern Shoshone Business Council Wes Martel.

Members of the U.S. House Energy and Environment Subcommittee slammed the Environmental Protection Agency during a hearing about the agency’s ground water research in the town of Pavillion.

The Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing got off to a late start after “Gasland” filmmaker Josh Fox was arrested for trying to film the proceedings. Fox has spent considerable time in Pavillion documenting water contamination that may be associated with hydraulic fracturing. An ABC News crew was denied entrance to the hearing.

From there, Chairman Republican Congressman Andy Harris charged the EPA with a “remarkable display of arrogance and disregard for the plain facts” concerning fracking practices through “scientific innuendo and regulatory straight-jacketing.”

Tomorrow, the U-S House of Representatives’ Energy and Environment Subcommittee will hear about the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing investigation of groundwater contamination in the town of Pavillion. However, Pavillion residents say they were not invited to testify.

In December the EPA released a draft report on its three-year water contamination investigation. It indicated that ground water in Pavillion’s aquifer contains compounds that are “likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.”

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it is extending the public comment period on the draft Pavillion ground water investigation to March 12. It's an attempt to allow all stakeholders and the public additional time to review the report and its related documents. On Tuesday, the EPA invited the public to nominate scientific experts to be peer reviewers of the draft report. Nominations will be accepted through February 17th. In December, Gov.

Encana Oil and Gas says the Environmental Protection Agency is moving too fast with its draft analysis of ground water contamination in the town of Pavillion, and has asked the EPA to suspend the public comment period.

In a letter dated January 6th, Encana oil and gas asked the EPA to suspend the public comment period until the agency’s plans were better explained and additional critical data could be disseminated.

In early December the EPA released a draft of its ground water investigation in the town of Pavillion, which indicated that the area’s aquifer contains compounds that are: “Likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.”