EPA Developing Self-audit Policy for New Oil and Gas Owners

Posted on 2/1/2019 by Roger Marks

EPA is developing a new Clean Air Act audit policy that would give new owners of oil and natural gas exploration and production facilities nine months to self-inspect their operations, disclose violations to EPA, and correct any violations they find. Facility owners will be able to avoid civil penalties for violations they self-report and correct in line with the requirements of the new program.

A Draft agreement for the new program is available on EPA’s website.

Reserve your seat for expert-led Complete Environmental Regulations Training in New Jersey, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Anaheim, Houston, and Orlando in 2019!

The new self-audit program specifically addresses steps to identify and correct excess emissions from storage tank vapor control systems. These vapor control systems have been at the heart of at least three recent high-dollar Clean Air Act enforcement actions.

EPA’s Use of Self-Audits to Protect the Environment

EPA has long relied on self-disclosures as a tool to boost environmental compliance at industry facilities. EPA’s current self-audit policy has been in place since 1995 and provides incentives for regulated facilities to bring themselves into compliance with Federal environmental requirements.

In December 2015, EPA launched a web-based “eDisclosure” tool to encourage regulated entities to voluntarily discover, disclose, correct, and prevent the recurrent violation of environmental regulations.

EPA has posted a Q&A regarding the new self-audit policy here: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-06/documents/qaoilandnaturalgasnewownerauditprogram.pdf

Complete Environmental Compliance Training in Salt Lake City

Join Lion for comprehensive training on the US EPA air, water, and chemical regulations that impact your facility. You will leave the workshop with more confidence to ask the right questions about site compliance and get up to speed on how recent regulatory and de-regulatory actions could affect you.

Whether you’re new to EPA compliance or you’re the go-to person for all-things-environmental in your organization, you will take away new insights and prepare for what’s coming next in EPA regulation.

The Complete Environmental Regulations Workshop comes to Salt Lake City on March 4—5. Click the link above to reserve your seat now!

Tags: audit, Clean Air Act, EPA, new rules, oil and gas

Find a Post

Search for:

Compliance Topics

Compliance Archives

The instructor was probably the best I ever had! He made the class enjoyable, was humorous at times, and very knowledgeable.

Mary Sue Michon

Environmental Administrator

Convenient; I can train when I want, where I want.

Barry Cook

Hazmat Shipping Professional

The instructor was very very informative, helpful, understandable and pleasant. This course answered many questions I had, being new to this industry.

Frances Mona

Shipping Manager

The instructor did an excellent job presenting a very dry subject; keeping everyone interested and making it enjoyable.

Marc Bugg

Hazardous Waste Professional

I like Lion's workshops the best because they really dig into the information you need to have when you leave the workshop.

Tom Bush, Jr.

EHS Manager

The instructor took a rather drab set of topics and brought them to life with realistic real-life examples.

Tom Berndt

HSE Coordinator

These are the best classes I attend each year. I always take something away and implement improvements at my sites.

Kim Racine

EH&S Manager

Much better than my previous class with another company. The Lion instructor made sense, kept me awake and made me laugh!

Marti Severs

Enterprise Safety Manager

Lion does a great job summarizing and communicating complicated EH&S-related regulations.

Michele Irmen

Sr. Environmental Engineer

The instructor made the class very enjoyable and catered to the needs of our group.

Sarah Baker

Planner

Download Our Latest Whitepaper

Some limited quantity reliefs are reserved for specific modes of transport. Use this guide to identify which reliefs you can capitalize on, and which do not apply to your operations.

Download

By submitting your phone number, you agree to receive recurring marketing and training text messages. Consent to receive text messages is not required for any purchases. Text STOP at any time to cancel. Message and data rates may apply. View our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.