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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION 8 

1595 Wynkoop Street 

DENVER, CO 80202-1129 

Phone 800-227-8917 

http://www.epa.gov/region08 

MAY 7 6 2012 

Ref: 8P-AR 

CERTIFIED MAIL -RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED & ELECTRONIC MAIL 

John McMichael 

Environmental Engineer 

XTO Energy, Inc. 

810 Houston Street 

Ft. Worth, Texas 76102 

RE: Request for Information Pertaining to Emissions 

Control Equipment at Oil and Gas Production Facilities on 

the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation 

Dear Mr. McMichael, 

As you know, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expediting the development of a 

Reservation-specific Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to establish federally enforceable requirements 

to control volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from oil and gas production activities (i.e. 

storage tank and heatc:r-treater err issions) within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Berthold Indian 

Reservation (FBIR) in North Dakota. The EPA's action would require owners and operators ofoil and 

gas well production facilities to reduce VOCs released during the extraction and storage of hydrocarbon 

reservoir fluids prior to being transferred off site for sale or treatment. 

As part of our effort to develop federally enforceable requirements under the FIP for oil and gas 

production facilities, the EPA is evaluating VOC emission control technologies employed by operators 

on the FBIR. The agency is requesting information that will allow us to determine the associated cost 

impacts of the proposed emission control requirements. 

This information request pertains to XTO Energy's (XTO's) operations on the FBIR. Please submit the 

information requested below for XTO's oil and gas exploration and production facilities located on the 

FBIR: 

l. Please provide the average cost incurred to develop a synthetic minor permit application for an 

oil and gas exploration and production facility on the FBIR. 

2. Please provide the average cost incurred on an annual basis for each of the following types of 

control equipment: 
a. A pit Flare capable of achieving 90% VOC destruction efficiency; 

b. A utility flare that is manufacturer certified for 98% VOC destruction efficiency or compliant 

with the requirements for such flares at 40 CFR 60.18(b); 

c. An enclosed combustor that is manufacturer certified for 98% VOC destruction efticicncy: 

d. An auto-ignition system that includes, an electronically controlled ignition device, 

continuous recording device, malfunction alarm, and remote notitication system to ensure the 

continued presence of a pilot flame during operation; 

e. A continuous pilot flame system that includes a thermocouple, continuous recording device 

malfunction alarm, and remote notification system to ensure the continued presence of a pilot 

flame; and 

f. A vapor recovery systern (VRU) for capture and recovery of storage tank gases. 

3. Please describe the source of the data and the methodology used in calculating items 2(a) 

tlu-ough 2(t). The average annual cost incurred should include, but is not limited to, the following 

list of cost elernents: 

a. The total capital investment (TCI) cost, which includes but is not limited to, the capital cost 

for the primary control device, auxiliary equipment and instrumentation, piping, performance 

testing, associated utilities, engineering and system design, freight, site preparation, 

foundation, construction and iteld expenses, installation, etc.; 

b. The operation and maintenance (O&M) cost (equipment, pilot fuel, etc.); 

c. The annualized labor costs such as salary and benef ts assoeiated with 

monitoring/recordkeeping/reporting requirements and O&M activitaes; and 

d. The annualized non-labor costs such as office supplies, vehicle costs, and information 

technology. 

Cost elements for each typc of control equipment should not overlap to avoid duplicative cost fi -om 

accumulating. 

4. For each piece of equipment identified in 2(a) through 2(f), please provide the expected life for 

each coznponent. Any costs associated with maintenance over the life of the unit should be 

annualized and included as part of the annual O&M costs reported. 

5. Please provide the avera e cost associated with the sale of recoverable product from a VRU. 

Due to the expedited development of the FIP, your prompt cooperation is appreciated. We request that 

this information be provided to the EPA within 14 calendar days of'receipt as indicated by the eal -lier of 

cci-tifed re:ccipt or clectronic email for this letter. Electronic subnlission is preferred. IIlease submit 

your response to Eric Worttnan at wortman.erick)epa.aov. 

We request that a duly authorized officer or agent of XTO certify as true, accurate, and complete the 

response to this information by signing the enclosed Statement of Certifcation (Attachment A) and 

returning it with the response. Such officer or agent must have sufficient knowledge and authority to 

make such representations on behalf of XTO. 

Pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Part 2, Subpart B, XTO is entitled to assert a business confidentiality claim 

cov crinLyanv part of the submitted information. Attachment B specifies the assertion and substantiation 

rcduirements for business confdentiality claims. Failure to assert such a claim makes the submitted 

2 
information stibject to public disclosure upon request and without further notice to you, pursuant to the 

Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Section 552. Information subject to a business confidentiality 

claim may only be made available to the public in accordance with 40 C.F.R. Part 2, Subpart B. 

It is the EPA's understanding that the average emission control device cost data for all of XTO's 

facilities on the FBIR will likely not be entitled to confidential treatment as opposed to specific cost data 

for each facility. If you do claim confidentiality, we request that you submit that portion of the response 

(only that specific portion for which you are claiming confidential treatment) separately from all other 

information. 

Also enclosed with this Requcst for Information is a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement and 

Fairness Act (SBREFA) information sheet (see Attachment C). 

The requirements of this letter are not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. §3501 

et seq. 

If the information requested in this letter has previously been submitted to the EPA, please let us know. 

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions please contact Eric Wortman, 

of my staff, at 303-312-6649. 

Sincerely, 

aCarl Daly, Director A 

Air Program 

Enclosures 

Oprinted on Recycled Paper 
Attachment A 

STATEMENT OF CERTIFICATION 

I certify under penalty of law that I have personally examined and am familiar with the information 

submitted in this document and all attachments and that, based on my inquiry of those individuals 

immediately responsible for obtaining information, I believe that the information is true, accurate, and 

complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the 

possibility of fine or imprisonment. 

Signature 

Title 

Date 
Attachment B 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

Assertion and Substantiation Requirements 

1. Assertion Requirements 

You may assert a business confidentiality claim covering all or part of the information requested in the 

attached letter, as provided in 40 C.F.R. §2.203(b). If portions of a document have CBI claims, then 

please provide a redacted version that would remove any CBI information. To make a confidentiality 

claim, submit the requested infonmation and indicate that you are making a claim of confidentiality. Any 

document over which you make a claim of confidentiality should be marked by placing on or attaching 

to the infonmation, at the time it is submitted to U.S. EPA, a cover sheet, stamped or typed legend, or 

other suitable form of notice employing language such as"trade secret" or "proprietary" or "company 

confidential" and a date if any when the information should no longer be treated as confidential. 

Information covered by such a claim will be disclosed by the United States Environmental Protection 

Agency (U.S. EPA) only to the extent permitted and by means of the procedures set i'orth by Section 

114(c) ofthe Clean Air Act (the Act), and 40 C.F.R. Part 2. Allegedly confidential portions ofotherwise 

non-cont'idential documents should be clearly identified. U.S. EPA will construe the failure to furnish a 

confidentiality claim with your response to the attached letter as a waiver of that claim, and the 

information may be made available to the public without further notice to you. 

Please segregate personnel, medical and similar files from your responses and include that information 

on separate sheet(s) marked as "Personal Privacy Information" given that disclosure of such information 

to the general public may constitute an invasion of privacy. 

2. Substantiation Requirements 

A11 conhdentiality claims are subject to U.S. EPA verification and must be made in accordance with 40 

C.F.R. §2.208 which provides in part that you satisfactorily show that you have taken reasonable 

measures to protect the confidentiality of the information and that you intend to continue to do so; and 

that the information is not and has not been reasonably obtainable by legitimate means without your 

consent. 

As explained above, if you assert a CBI claim in responding to the attached letter, please specify which 

portions of the information you consider confidential. You must be specific by page, paragraph, and 

sentence when identifying the information subject to your claim. Any information not specifically 

identified as subject to confidentiality claim may be disclosed to the public and a requestor without 

further notice to you. For each item or class of information that you identify as being subject to CBI, 

please answer the following questions, giving as much detail as possible: 

a. For what period of time do you request that the information be maintained as confidential, e.g., 

until a certain date, until the occurrence of a specified event, or permanently? If the occurrence 

of a specific event will create the need for confidentiality, please specify that event. 

b. Information submitted to U.S. EPA becomes stale over time. Why should the information you 

claim as confidential be protected for the time period specified in your answer to question #1? 

c. What measures have you taken to protect the information claimed as contidential? Have you . 

disclosed the information to anyone other than a governmental.body or someone who is bounci 
by an agreement not to disclose the information furthcr? If so, why should the information still 

be considered confidential? 

d. Is the information contained in any publicly available material such as the Internet, publicly 

available databases, promotional publications, annual reports, or articles? Is there any means by 

which a member of the public could obtain access to the information? Is the information of a 

kind that you would c.ustomarily not release to the public? 

e. Has any governmental body made a determination as to the confidentiality of the information? If 

so, please attach a copy of the determination. 

f. For each category of information claimed as confidential, explain with specificity why release of 

the information is likely to cause substantial harm to your competitive position. Explain the 

specitic nature of those harmful effects, why they should bc viewed as substantial. and the causal 

relationship between disclosure and such hannful effects. How could your competitors make use 

ofthis information to your detriment? 

g. Do you assert that the information is submitted on a voluntary or a mandatory basis? Please 

explain the reason for your assertion. If you assert that the information is voluntarily submitted 

information, explain whether and why disclosure of the information would tend to lessen the 

availability to U.S. EPA of similar information in the future. 

h. Any other issue you deem relevant (including, if pertinent reasons why you believe that the 

information you claim to be CBI is not emission or effluent data.) 

Please note that emission data, provided under Section 114 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7414, is not entitled 

to confidential treatment under 40 C.F.R. Part 2. "Emission data" means, with reference to any source of 

emission of any substance into the air. 

Information necessary to determine the identity, amount, frequency, concentration, or other 

characteristics (to the extent related to air quality) of any emission which has been emitted by the source 

(or of any pollutant resulting from any emission by the source), or any combination of the foregoing; 

a. Information necessary to determine the identity, amount, frequency, concentration, or other 

characteristics (to the extent related to air quality) ofthe emissions which, under an applicable 

standard or limitation, the source was authorized to emit (including, to the extent necessary for 

such purposes, a description of the manner and rate of operation of the source); and 

b. A general description of the location and/or nature of the source to the extent necessary to 

identify the source and to distinguish it from other sources (including, to the extent necessary for 

such purposes, a description of the device, installation, or operation constituting the source). 40 

C.F.R. §§ 2.30 I(a)(2)(i)(A), (B) and (C). 

Emission data includes, but is not limited to, service records stating the amount of refrigerant added to a 

unit or reclaimed from a unit. 

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You bear the burden of substantiating your confidentiality claim. Conclusory allegations will be given 

little or no weight in the determination. In substantiating your CBI claim(s), U.S. EPA requires that you 

to bracket all text so claimed and mark it "CBI". Information so designated will be disclosed by U.S. 

EPA only to the extent allowed by, and by means of the procedures set forth in, 40 C.F.R. Part 2, 

Subpart B. If you fail to claim the information as confidential, it may be made available to the public 

without further notice to you. 
Attachment C 

United States Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (2201 A) 

~~~ EF-/-% 

Environmental Protection EPA 300-F-03-001 May 2003 

Agency 

'

f you own a small business. the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers 

a variety of compliance assistance and tools to assist you in complying with federat and state 

environmental laws. These resources can help you understand your environmental obiigations, improve 

compliance and find cost-effective ways to comply through the use of pollution prevention and other 

innovative technologies. 

Hotlines, Helpiines and 

Ciearinghouses 

EPA sponsors approximateiy 89 free hotiines and ciearinghouses that provide convenient assistance regarding 

environmental requirements. 

The National Environmental Comptiance Assistance 

Ciearinghouse provides quick access to compiiance 

assistance tools, contacts, and pianned activities from the 

U.S. EPA, states, and other compliance assistance 

providers: http://www.epa.gov/clearinghouse 

Pollution Prevention Clearinghouse 

http:/Avww.epa.gov/opptintrAibrary/ppicindex.htm 

EPA's Smatl Business Ombudsman Hotline can 

provide a list of all the hot lines and assist in determining the hotline best meeting your needs: 

(800) 368-5888 

Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act 

(800) 424-9346 

National Response Center (to repon oil and hazardous 

substance spil!s) 

(800) 424-8802 

Toxics Substances and Asbestos Information 

(202)554-1404 

Safe Drinking Water 

(800)426-4791 

Stratospheric Ozone and Refrigerants Infonnation 

(800) 296-1996 

Cfean Air Technology Center 

(919) 541-0800 

Wetiands Helpline 

(800)832-7828 

EPA Websites 

EPA has severa! Internet sites that provide usefui compliance assistance information and materiais for small 

businesses. If you don't have access to the Internet at 

your business, many pubiic libraries provide access to the 

Internet at minimal or no cost. 

EPA's Home Page 

http://www.epa.gov 

Small Business Assistance Program 

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/sbap 

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance 

Compliance Assistance Home Page 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/assistance 

Office of Regulatory Enforcement 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/c;vii/index.html 

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement 

http•Nwww.epa.gev;compliance/c!earup 

Innovative Programs for Environmental Performance 

http:11www.epa.gov/pamners 

Small Business Ombudsman 

www.sba.gov/ombudsman 

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance: http://wvvw.epa.gov/compliance 

~ 

.i 
Compliance Assistance Centers 

In partnership with industry, universities, and otherfederal 

and state agencies, EPA has established national Compliance Assistance Centers that provide Intemet and "faxback" 

assistance services for several industries with many small 

businesses. The following Compliance Assistance Centers 

can be accessed through the Center's gateway at hftp:// 

www.assistancecenters.net or by calling the phone numbers 

below and at their respective websites: 

Metaf Finishing 

(1-800-AT-NMFRC orwww.nmfrc.org ) 

Printing 

(1-888-USPNEAC or www pneac.org ) 

Automotive Service and Repair 

(1-888-GRN-LINK or www.ccar-greenlink.org) 

Agriculture 

(1-888-663-2155 or www.epa.gov/agriculture) 

Printed Wiring Board Manufacturing 

(1-734-995-4911 orwww.pwbrc.org ) 

The Chemical Industry 

(1-800-672-6048 or www.chemalliance.org) 

The Transportation Industry 

(1-888-459-0656 or www.transource.org) 

The Paints and Coatings Center 

(1-800-286-6372 or www.paintcenter.org ) 

Three new centers are under development for the auto 

salvage sector, the construction industry, and U.S. Mexican border waste issues. 

State Agencies 

Many state agencies have established compliance assistance programs that provide on-site and other types of 

assistance. Contact your local state environmental agency 

for more information. For assistance in reaching state 

agencies, call EPA's Small Business Onibudsman at 

(800)-368-5888 or visit the Srnatl Busiriess Environmental 

Homepage at http:i!www.smallbi2-enviroweb.orglstate.htmi. 

Compliance Incentives 

EPA provides incentives for environmental compliance. By 

participating in compliance assistance programs or 

voluntarily disclosing and promptly correcting violations, 

businesses may be eligible for penalry waivers or reductions. EPA has two policies that potentially apply to small 

businesses: TheAudit Policy (hftp:,I/www.epa.gov/compliance/incentives/auditing) and the Small Business Poficy 

(http://www.epa.gov/compliance/incentives/smallbusiness). 

These do not apply if an enforcement action has already 

been initiated. 

Commenting on Federal Enforcement 

Actions and Compliance Activities 

The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 

(SBREFA) established an ombudsman ("SBREFAOmbudsman") and 10 Regional Fairness Boards to receive comments 

from small businesses about federal agency enforcement 

actions. The SBREFAOmbudsman will annually rate each 

agency's responsiveness to small businesses. If you believe 

that you fall within the Small Business Adrninistratiori's 

definition of a small business (based on your North American 

1ridustry Classification System (NAICS) designation, nurnber 

of emp(oyees or annual receipts, defined at 13 C.F. R. 

121.201; in most cases, this means a business with 500 or 

fewer employees), and wish to comment on federal enforcement and compliance activities, call the SBREFA 

Ombudsman's toll-free number a11-888-REG-FAI R(1-888- 

734-3247). 

Every small business that is the subject of an enforcement 

or compliance action is entitled to comment on the 

Agency's actions without fear of retaliation. EPA 

employees are prohibited from using enforcement or any 

other means of retaliation against any member of the 

regulated community because the regulated community 

previously commented on its activities. 

Your Duty to Comply 

If you receive compliance assistance or submit comments 

to the SBREFAOmbudsman or Regional Fairness Boards, 

you stifl have the duty to comply with the law, including 

providing timely responses to EPA information requests, 

administrative or civil complaints, other enforcement 

actions or communications. The assistance information 

and comment processes do not give you any new rights or 

defenses in any enforcement action. These processes 

also do not affect EPA's obtigation to protect public health 

or the environment under any of the environmental statutes 

t enforces, including the right to take emergency rernedial 

or emergency response actions when appropriate. Ttiose 

decis+ons will be based on the facts in each situation. The 

SBREFAOmbudsman and Fairness Boards do not 

participate in resolving EPA's enforcement actions. Also, 

remember that to preserve your rights, you need to comply 

with ail rules governing the enforcement process. 

EPA is disseminating this Information to you 

without maldng a determination that your business 

or organization Is a small business as defined by 

Section 222 of the Small Business Regu/atory 

Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) or related 

provisions.