Document ID: EPA-R09-OAR-2019-0655-0014
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2020-05-29T04:00Z

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                     REGION IX AIR and RADIATION DIVISION

                          Technical Support Document 
                                      for
                       EPA's Clean Air Act Rulemaking
                                    for the
                     California State Implementation Plan
                 Feather River Air Quality Management District
                                       
            Negative Declaration for Control Techniques Guidelines 
                                     for 
                       the Oil and Natural Gas Industry

                              
                           Prepared by: Stanley Tong
                                   May 2020

DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION  -  

Agency
Feather River Air Quality Management District (FRAQMD or District)

SIP Approved Version
There is no previous SIP-approved FRAQMD Negative Declaration for the Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry 

Subject of this Technical Support Document
"Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) State Implementation Plan (SIP) Revision for the South Sutter County Portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan Nonattainment Area for 8-Hour Ozone  -  Negative Declaration for Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry"

Adopted  -  	August 6, 2018 
Submitted  -  	December 7, 2018, 
		by letter dated December 2, 2018.

Completeness Finding
Complete by operation of law: June 7, 2019

BACKGROUND  - 

This technical support document (TSD) relates to the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) requirement for certain sources of air pollution to implement controls that are determined to be reasonable, also called reasonably available control technology or RACT. These requirements are found in title I, part D, subpart 2 of the Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementing regulations addressing the State Implementation Plan (SIP) requirements for RACT for the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) at title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 51, subpart Aa, section 51.1112. 

This TSD will focus on the EPA's evaluation of whether the "Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) State Implementation Plan (SIP) Revision for the South Sutter County Portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan Nonattainment Area for 8-Hour Ozone -- Negative Declaration for Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry," adopted by the Feather River Air Quality Management District (FRAQMD or District) on August 6, 2018, and submitted to the EPA by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on December 7, 2018 (by letter dated December 2, 2018), meets CAA section 182 RACT requirements.

CAA section 182 requires that states adopt RACT for areas that are designated nonattainment for the ozone NAAQS and are classified as a Moderate Area or above. Section 182 specifies that RACT is required for volatile organic compound (VOC) sources covered by a control techniques guidelines (CTG) document and for all major stationary sources of VOC or oxides of nitrogen (NOx). States are required to submit a SIP revision providing for the implementation of RACT in such areas to the EPA for approval into their SIPs. Alternatively, states subject to this CAA section 182 RACT requirement may adopt and submit a negative declaration documenting that they have no stationary sources or emitting facilities subject to some or all of the CTG documents (and/or that they have no major sources of VOC or NOX). Should a new source of the type covered by an existing CTG be constructed or relocate into a state after approval of a negative declaration, the EPA would expect the state to develop a regulation and submit it to the EPA for approval into the SIP in accordance with the relevant timing provided for by the CAA. The negative declaration must go through the same state public process requirements as any other SIP submittal.
	
The FRAQMD's jurisdiction covers all of Sutter and Yuba counties. The southern portion of Sutter County is classified as a Severe nonattainment area for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Therefore, under CAA sections 182(b)(2) and (f), FRAQMD must, at a minimum, adopt RACT level controls for this southern portion of Sutter County for sources covered by a CTG document and for any major stationary sources of VOCs or NOx. As noted above, where applicable, the FRAQMD may instead adopt a negative declaration documenting that it has no stationary sources or emitting facilities subject to one or more CTG documents and/or no major sources. 

On September 29, 2014, the FRAQMD submitted a RACT SIP for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS, which the EPA approved in 2015. 80 FR 38959 (July 8, 2015). 

On October 27, 2016, (81 FR 74798) the EPA announced the availability of the CTG for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry ("Oil and Natural Gas CTG") (EPA-453/B-16-001). The Oil and Natural Gas CTG contains the EPA's RACT recommendations for reducing VOC emissions from equipment and processes used in the oil and natural gas industry including: storage tanks, centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, pneumatic controllers, pneumatic pumps, and equipment leaks from natural gas processing plants. The CTG also contains recommendations for reducing VOC leaks (i.e., fugitive emissions) at production gathering and boosting stations and at oil and natural gas well sites. While the CTG covers equipment such as storage tanks, pneumatic controllers and pneumatic pumps at low-producing well sites (producing less than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day), it does not include RACT recommendations for controlling fugitive emissions from low-producing well sites.

To address RACT requirements under CAA sections 182(b) and (f) and 40 CFR 51.1112 for this CTG for the Severe ozone nonattainment area within its jurisdiction, the FRAQMD submitted for approval into the California SIP its negative declaration stating that the District has no sources in south Sutter County subject to the Oil and Natural Gas CTG. This submittal is the subject of the present EPA action and this TSD.

SUBMITTAL SUMMARY  - 

The District adopted its negative declaration for the Oil and Natural Gas CTG on August 6, 2018, and CARB submitted it to the EPA on December 7, 2018. The District's staff report provides a summary of the Oil and Gas CTG and states that it took the following actions to determine if any sources to which the CTG is applicable are located in the south Sutter County portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan nonattainment area:
	- Search of District internal database of permitted stationary sources.
	- Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) Well Finder website search.
	- Written correspondence with current permit holders for natural gas production facilities.

The District's staff report states that while there are 36 permitted natural gas production facilities within its jurisdiction, there are no natural gas production operations in the south Sutter County portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan ozone nonattainment area. The District also states that there are no permitted oil production facilities in the FRAQMD's jurisdiction.

The District states that its search of the DOGGR website's interactive map (Well Finder) showed that there were no operating natural gas production wells in south Sutter County when the search was conducted. The staff report adds that natural gas permit holders stated they had no emission sources within the nonattainment area. In addition, the District states that its correspondence with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company confirmed that there are no pre-distribution processes involving storage tanks or vessels in the area and that all oil and natural gas industry activity in the nonattainment area is part of the distribution process. 

The District therefore concludes that it has no sources subject to the Oil and Natural Gas CTG. 

THE EPA'S EVALUATION AND PROPOSED ACTION
      
As discussed above, in lieu of adopting RACT rules, states may adopt negative declarations for CTG source categories if there are no sources in the relevant ozone nonattainment area covered by the CTG documents. We have evaluated the FRAQMD's negative declaration and the supporting information provided in the submittal. As part of our analysis, we also reviewed additional information relevant to the issue of whether there are any sources subject to the Oil and Natural Gas CTG in the south Sutter County ozone nonattainment area.

On September 21, 2018, CARB released its staff report for its proposed submission of California's State-wide greenhouse gas emission standards for crude oil and natural gas facilities ("CARB Staff Report"). The CARB Staff Report provides a comparison of the State-wide rule to the EPA's 2016 Oil and Natural Gas CTG. The CARB Staff Report states that, of the California air districts with nonattainment areas, only six have oil and gas operations subject to the EPA's CTG. The CARB Staff Report clarifies that while FRAQMD is listed as one of the six air districts in California with oil and gas operations, the FRAQMD's "nonattainment area is located in a portion of the district that does not have oil and gas operations subject to RACT recommendations; therefore, Feather River AQMD is not subject to the CTG....".

We also accessed and queried the internet sites for California's Department of Oil and Gas Well Finder, CARB's pollution mapping tool, and the California Energy Commission's California Natural Gas Pipelines and California Natural Gas Pipeline and Station (Base Map) and did not find indications of operations that would be subject to the Oil and Natural Gas CTG in the south Sutter County portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan ozone nonattainment area.[,] 

Based on our evaluation as discussed above, we agree with the FRAQMD's conclusion that there are no sources subject to the EPA's 2016 Oil and Natural Gas CTG in the south Sutter County portion of the Sacramento Metropolitan ozone nonattainment area.

The EPA is proposing to find that FRAQMD's negative declaration for the Oil and Natural Gas CTG (EPA-453/B-16-001) submitted on December 7, 2018, meets the requirements of section 110 and Part D of the CAA as amended in 1990. Therefore, we recommend approval of the negative declaration pursuant to CAA section 110(k)(3). 

REFERENCES  -  

 Memorandum dated May 18, 2006, from William T. Harnett, Director, Air Quality Policy Division, U.S. EPA, to Regional Air Division Directors, Subject: "RACT Qs & As  -  Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT): Questions and Answers," question #25, available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/ract_and_nsps_1dec1988.pdf.
 CARB, "Staff Report: Proposed Submission of California's Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for Crude Oil And Natural Gas Facilities Into the California State Implementation Plan," September 21, 2018 ("CARB Staff Report"), retrieved August 27, 2019, from https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-09/O%26G%20CTG%20-%20Staff%20Report.pdf. 
 California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) Well Finder. Retrieved November 15, 2018, from https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/doggr/wellfinder/#openModal/-120.70916/39.29074/10. 
 CARB Pollution Mapping Tool. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/ei/tools/pollution_map/#. 
 California Energy Commission, California Natural Gas Pipelines. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/maps/infrastructure/Natural_Gas_Pipelines.pdf.
 California Energy Commission, California Natural Gas Pipeline and Station (Base Map). Retrieved November 15, 2019, from 
      https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=f8b54b821642463b8dc0becb2711093a. 
 Memorandum dated October 20, 2016, from Anna Marie Wood, Director, Air Quality Policy Division, U.S. EPA, to Regional Air Division Directors 1 - 10, Subject: "Implementing Reasonably Available Control Technology Requirements for Sources Covered by the 2016 Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry," Question #8, available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-10/documents/implementing_reasonably_available_control_technology_requirements_for_sources_covered_by_the_2016_control_techniques_guidelines_for_the_oil_and_natural_gas_industry.pdf.
 EPA 453/B-16-001, Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry, available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-10/documents/2016-ctg-oil-and-gas.pdf. 
 Email dated November 27, 2019, from Rosalio Altamirano, (DOGGR) to Stanley Tong (EPA), Subject: "RE: DOGGR Well Finder: Wells in south Sutter County."
 80 FR 38959 (July 8, 2015), Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Feather River Air Quality Management District.
 85 FR 13055 (March 6, 2020), Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; District of Columbia; Negative Declaration for the Oil and Gas Control Techniques Guideline.