(Seattle Sept. 19, 2011) Today, EPA Region 10…
(Seattle – Sept. 19, 2011) Today, EPA
Region 10 issued final air quality permits to Shell for oil and gas
exploration drilling in the Alaska Arctic. The permits will allow
Shell to operate the Discoverer drillship and
a support fleet of icebreakers, oil spill response vessels, and
supply ships for up to 120 days each year in the
Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea Outer Continental Shelf starting in
2012.
Shell’s exploration drilling fleet will
emit more than 250 tons of air pollutants a year and therefore,
under existing law, must have federal Clean Air Act Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS)/Prevention of Significant Deterioration
(PSD) permits. The permits set strict limits on air pollution from
these vessels.
EPA Region 10 issued similar OCS/PSD air permits
to Shell in 2010. Those permits were challenged by North Slope
communities and environmental groups to the Environmental Appeals
Board, which sent the permits back to EPA Region 10 in December
2010. EPA Region 10 revised the permits to address the issues
raised by the Board.
Under the new permits, Shell will reduce its
fleet emissions of most key air pollutants including fine
particulates and nitrogen dioxide by more than 50 percent from the
levels allowed in their 2010 permits. These reductions are largely
due to new emissions controls Shell added to meet the new nitrogen
dioxide standard that went into effect in 2011.
EPA Region 10’s approval of these revised
OCS/PSD air permits is based in part on installation of
state-of-the-art pollution reduction controls on the
Discoverer drillship to meet Best Available Control Technology
requirements and to comply with the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards.
The permits also require Shell to reduce air
emissions by using Selective Catalytic Reduction and Oxidation
Catalyst controls on two icebreakers, Catalytic Diesel Particulate
Filters on the Nanuq oil spill response vessel and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel
fuel on the Discoverer
drillship and all vessels in the support
fleet.
EPA Region 10 proposed the draft permits for
public comment on July 6, 2011 and held informational meetings and
a public hearing in Barrow, Alaska on Aug. 3 & 4,
2011.
The final permits and EPA Region 10’s
responses to public comments are available on the web at: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/AIRPAGE.NSF/Permits/ocsap/.
Public petitions for review of these permits
must be received by the Environmental Appeals Board no later than
Oct. 24, 2011. More information about the procedures for filing an
appeal including using the Board's e-filing system can be found
at: http://www.epa.gov/eab/.
EPA Region 10 has proposed two other draft air
permits for oil and gas exploration in the Alaska Arctic. Shell
applied for an OCS/Title V air permit to operate its drilling
rig Kulluk, in the Beaufort Sea starting in 2012. Public comment
on the Shell Kulluk draft permit closed Sept. 6. ConocoPhillips applied
for an OCS/Title V permit to operate a jack-up drill rig in the
Chukchi Sea starting in 2013. Public comment on the ConocoPhillips
draft permit ends Sept. 21. EPA Region 10 will issue final permits
after comments from the public are reviewed and
considered.
EPA Region 10 air permits ensure compliance with
air quality regulations during drilling operations but on their own
do not authorize drilling. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean and Energy
Management and Regulatory Enforcement is the federal agency that
authorizes oil drilling in offshore federal waters. Find more
at: http://www.boemre.gov/