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EO12866_Oil and Gas CTG 2060-ZA22 Notice of Availability_20150716

6560-50-P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0216; FRL-xxxx-x]

RIN 2060-ZA33

Release of Draft Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and 

Natural Gas Source Category

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 

the availability of a draft Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG)

document for select Oil and Natural Gas source category emission 

sources. This document, when finalized, will provide state,

local and tribal air agencies information to assist them in 

determining reasonably available control technology (RACT) for 

volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from such sources. 

DATES: Comments must be received on or before [insert date 60 

days after publication in the Federal Register]. 

ADDRESSES: The draft Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil 

and Natural Gas Source Category is available primarily via the 

Internet at http://www.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/index.html.

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR2015-0216, by one of the following methods: 

 Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 

Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. 
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 Email: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. Include docket ID No. EPA–HQ–

OAR–2015-0216 in the subject line of the message. 

 Fax: (202) 566-9744. 

 Mail: Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0216, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Mail Code 

28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460.

 Hand/Courier Delivery: U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, EPA Docket Center, EPA WJC West Building, Room 3334, 

1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004, Attention 

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0216. Such deliveries are only 

accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and 

special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

Instructions. Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQOAR-2015-0216. The EPA's policy is that all comments received 

will be included in the public docket without change and may be 

made available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided, unless the comment includes 

information claimed to be Confidential Business Information 

(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by 

statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI 

or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or 

email. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an "anonymous 

access" system, which means the EPA will not know your identity 
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or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an email comment directly to the EPA 

without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your email 

address will be automatically captured and included as part of 

the comment that is placed in the public docket and made 

available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, 

the EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your comment and with any CD you 

submit. If the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical 

difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the EPA 

may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files 

should avoid the use of special characters, avoid any form of 

encryption and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 

information about the EPA's public docket, visit the EPA Docket 

Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. For 

additional instructions on submitting comments, go to section 

I.A of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. 

Docket. All documents in the docket are listed in the 

http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, 

some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other 

information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain 

other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly 

available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials 

are available either electronically at 
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http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, EPA WJC West 

Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 

The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone 

number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 

telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Charlene Spells, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards, Sector Policies and Programs Division (E143-05), 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone number (919) 541-

5255, email at spells.charlene@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments? 

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA 

through http://www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the 

part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI 

information in a CD that you mail to the EPA, mark the outside 

of the CD as CBI and then identify electronically within the CD 

the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to 

one complete version of the comment that includes information 

claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the 

information claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in 
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the public docket. Information so marked will not be disclosed 

except in accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. 

Send or deliver information identified as CBI only to the 

following address: Tiffany Purifoy, OAQPS Document Control 

Officer (C404-02), U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, 

Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0216. 

II. Information About the Document

Section 172(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) provides that 

State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for nonattainment areas must 

include “reasonably available control measures”, including 

“reasonably available control technology” (RACT), for existing 

sources of emissions. Section 182(b)(2)(A)of the CAA stipulates 

that for moderate ozone nonattainment areas, states must revise 

their SIPs to include RACT for each category of VOC sources 

covered by a CTG document issued between November 15, 1990, and 

the date of attainment. Ozone nonattainment areas classified as 

serious, severe, and extreme are also subject to the 

requirements of CAA section 182(b)(2)(A) because CAA sections 

182(c) (for serious), (d) (for severe), and (e) (for extreme) 

require each higher classification to meet all the SIP 

submissions requirements of the next lowest classification.

CAA section 184(a) establishes a single ozone transport 

region (OTR) comprised of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, 

Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 
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Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and the Consolidated 

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) that includes the District 

of Columbia. CAA Section 184(b) provides that states in the 

ozone transport region must revise their SIPs to implement RACT 

with respect to all sources of VOCs in the state covered by a 

CTG issued before or after November 15, 1990.

The EPA defines RACT as “the lowest emission limitation 

that a particular source is capable of meeting by the 

application of control technology that is reasonably available 

considering technological and economic feasibility” (44 FR 

53761, September 17, 1979). The EPA is developing this CTG to 

provide state, local and tribal air agencies information to

assist them in determining RACT for VOCs from select Oil and 

Natural Gas source category emission sources. In developing the

CTG, the EPA, among other things, evaluated the sources of VOC 

emissions from the Oil and Natural Gas source category and the 

available control approaches for addressing these emissions, 

including the costs of such approaches. Based on available 

information and data, the EPA is providing draft recommendations 

for RACT for select Oil and Natural Gas source category emission 

sources. Upon finalization of the CTG, States can use the 

recommendations in the CTG to inform their determinations as to 

what constitutes RACT for VOCs for these Oil and Natural Gas 

source category sources in their particular areas. The 
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information contained in the CTG is provided only as guidance. 

This guidance does not change, or substitute for, requirements 

specified in applicable sections of the CAA or the EPA’s 

regulations; nor is it a regulation itself. The CTG does not 

impose any legally binding requirements on any entity. It 

provides only recommendations for state, local and tribal air 

agencies to consider in determining RACT. State, local and 

tribal air agencies are free to implement other technicallysound approaches that are consistent with the CAA and the EPA’s 

regulations.

The recommendations contained in the CTG are based on data 

and information currently available to the EPA. These general 

recommendations may not apply in all situations. Regardless of 

whether a state chooses to implement the recommendations 

contained in a CTG through state rules, or to issue state rules 

that adopt different approaches for RACT for VOCs from Oil and 

Natural Gas source category sources, states must submit their 

RACT rules to the EPA for review and approval as part of the SIP 

process. The EPA will evaluate the rules and determine, through 

notice and comment rulemaking in the SIP review process, whether 

the submitted rules meet the RACT requirements of the CAA and 

the EPA’s regulations. To the extent a state adopts any of the 

recommendations in this CTG, upon its finalization, into its 

state RACT rules, interested parties can raise questions and 
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objections about the substance of this guidance and the 

appropriateness of the application of this guidance to a 

particular situation during the development of the state rules 

and the EPA’s SIP review process.

Section 182(b)(2) of the CAA requires that a CTG issued 

between November 15, 1990, and the date of attainment include 

the date by which states subject to CAA section 182(b) must 

submit SIP revisions in response to the CTG. Pursuant to CAA 

section 182(b)(2), states required to submit rules consistent 

with CAA section 182(b) must submit their SIP revisions to 

include RACT requirements for sources covered by a CTG within 

the period specified by the Administrator in issuing the 

relevant CTG.

III. Specific Comments Solicited

In addition to providing an opportunity to review and 

comment on the draft CTG, the EPA is also soliciting specific 

comment on the following:

1. Information on costs associated with retrofitting an 

existing storage vessel to allow routing of emissions to a 

control device.
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Release of Draft Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and 

Natural Gas Source Category--Page 9 of 9

2. Information on the implementation of a monitoring plan that 

includes the use of optical gas imaging for fugitive 

emissions at existing well sites.

3. Interaction of the CTG with new builds in areas affected by 

the CTG. Refer to materials in the docket (EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-

0216).

Dated: ________________________.

_________________________ 

Gina McCarthy, 

Administrator.