Clean Air Task Force * Earthjustice * Environmental Defense Fund * Natural Resources Defense Council * Sierra Club * Western Environmental Law Center * WildEarth Guardi ans

July 22, 2011

Lisa Jackson
Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20460

Re: Request for Public Hearings in Oil and Gas Clea n Air Act Rulemaking

Dear Administrator Jackson:

We are writing to request that EPA hold public hear ings for its proposed revisions to the New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”) and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (“NESHAP”) for the oil and natural gas s ector. The rules will benefit the thousands and thousands of people across the country who are now suffering from the industry’s air pollution. EPA should make sure that their voices are clearly heard in this rulemaking.

As an initial matter, we thank you for taking urgen tly needed steps to safeguard public health and welfare from air pollution associated with oil and natural gas development through updates to the Clean Air Act’s NSPS and NESHAP. We understand the EPA is on track to propose updates by the end of July and to finalize any revisions by the end of January 2012. As you know, there are tremendous opportunities to ens ure that cost-effective emissions controls are utilized more broadly by the industry in order to ensure lasting protection of public health, welfare, and our economic prosperity.

We understand the EPA may be weighing options for p ublic hearings in conjunction with the NSPS and NESHAP updates after any proposed rules ar e released in July, and that the locations may include Denver, Arlington, Texas, and Pittsburg h. We support the agency’s efforts to hold public hearings in these cities given their proximi ty to major oil and gas producing areas. We trust that you will finalize these hearing dates an d locations soon. We also urge you to investigate ways to enable participation by affecte d and concerned citizens who do not live
near these cities and cannot afford to travel to th em, as many other parts of the country face serious pollution threats from the oil and gas indu stry. Many of the affected populations are low income communities and communities of color, wh ose voices in the process are of special concern and value. For instance, tribal populations in Alaska are particularly affected by the oil and gas industry, and would face exceptional costs in traveling to the lower 48 states. EPA should consider, for example, offering video confer encing access to its hearings, and using social media to aid participation by as many membe rs of the public as possible.As organizations that represent millions of members across the country, many of whom are

increasingly voicing to us their concerns over the air quality impacts of oil and gas development, we appreciate your time and attention to this lette r and our request. We look forward to working with EPA to ensure that the final rules are as strong as possible. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Deb Nardone Director, Natural Gas Reform Campaign
Sierra Club

PO Box 1363 State College, PA 16804 Deb.Nardone@sierraclub.org

Craig Holt Segall Attorney Sierra Club 50 F St NW, Eighth Floor Washington, DC, 20003 Craig.Segall@sierraclub.org

Ann Brewster Weeks Senior Counsel, Legal Director
Clean Air Task Force 18 Tremont Street, Suite 530 Boston, MA 02108 aweeks@catf.us

Robin Cooley Attorney Earthjustice 1400 Glenarm Place, #300 Denver, CO 80202 Rcooley@earthjustice.org Ramón Alvarez, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist Environmental Defense Fund 44 East Ave, Suite 304 Austin, TX 78701 ralvarez@edf.org

Meleah Geertsma Attorney Climate Center and Clean Air Program
Natural Resources Defense Council 1152 15th Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20005 mgeertsma@nrdc.org

Erik Schlenker-Goodrich Director, Climate and Energy Program
Western Environmental Law Center 208 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Unit 602 Taos, New Mexico 87571 eriksg@westernlaw.org

Jeremy Nichols Climate and Energy Program Director
WildEarth Guardians 1536 Wynkoop, Suite 301 - Denver, CO 80202 jnichols@wildearthguardians.org