Wyoming is at the drawing board for how to reduce pollution from oil and gas production, per a federal mandate. The state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is hosting a series of meetings this month to gather public input for how to localize the federal requirements.
Three residents showed up for a recent DEQ presentation in Pinedale. They heard an overview of the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methane requirements. The goal is to drastically reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations, both on new and decades old facilities. It’s an attempt to address climate change, as methane is a large contributor.
There’s a blanket plan from the EPA on how to do that, but states have about until March 2026 to design their own. That’s the part that Wyoming is looking for direction on.
Local Carmel Kail gave her two cents at the recent Pinedale meeting. She said the state’s plan needs to make sense for regular people, adding that even the presentation sounded too much like the federal government.
“Which is verbose, to be polite,” Kail said. “I think we could probably be more meaningfully engaged if we understood the issues.”
Wyoming DEQ’s Air Quality Administrator Nancy Vehr sympathized. She pointed out that some of the lengthy federal language is beyond their control.
“But we will look for opportunities that we can continue to explain to people in terms that people can understand, because if you understand, you can solve the problem,” Vehr said.
Vehr also spoke about the expedited timeline to craft the state’s plan. She said that in the world of government, a year and a half isn’t a lot of time. And if DEQ doesn’t get the ball rolling and misses the deadline, Wyoming will be stuck with the federal plan.
“How we do things in Wyoming works for Wyoming,” Vehr said.
She also spoke about the other strange timing conundrum: Wyoming is suing over these exact federal rules mandating the process. But DEQ has to move forward as if the rules are permanent.
“If the rule is upheld by the courts, we have to meet those deadlines in order to have a state plan,” she said. “If the court does something different, the timeline may change, but we can't read into the future.”
The hour long presentation also focused on specifics DEQ wants input on. For example, the EPA is requiring that oil and gas process controllers and pumps are reduced to zero methane emissions.
“We anticipate that all the requirements will increase the workload and cost, and we’d like industry input on some of the projections on how those rules will ultimately affect them,” said Jeff Wendt, DEQ’s air quality engineer, to the sparsely filled room.
Public comment closes Dec. 2. Several more information gathering meetings will be held this month both in-person and online. More details can be found here.
