The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is wrapping up an engine emissions study it started in May of 2011. The study looks at emissions from engines around the state, like generators running on oil and gas fields, to find out if those emissions are in compliance with air quality laws.
DEQ Air Quality Engineer Jon Walker says operators have traditionally been in charge of monitoring their own engines, but he says that’s not a good system.
“There was significant noncompliance,” says Walker. “The nuts and bolts of the deal is, the project we’re doing, we’re doing the exact monitoring that we expect operators to do and it’s really what’s necessary to keep engines operating in compliance. Basically what we found is some folks are doing a real good job and others, not so much.”
According to the results released at the end of September of 2012, certain engine types were non-compliant over half the time. Walker says the current testing, which should be over next week, is more of a compliance effort than a study.