Pa. strives to maintain stricter testing for gas leaks at well sites

State likely will continue stringent checks for methane despite EPA relaxing requirements

Harrisburg Bureau

A federal plan to loosen requirements for how frequently oil and gas companies must check their well sites for gas leaks isn’t expected to undercut Pennsylvania’s new air quality permits that require leak checks at shale sites four times a year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed to relax its two-year-old rules designed to curb emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from new or significantly modified oil and gas sites.

A key change in the EPA proposal would allow companies to survey well sites for leaks once a year, rather than twice a year. For low-producing well sites, leak monitoring would be required once every two years.

The federal agency is still considering whether to require leak surveys at compressor stations once or twice a year — compared to four times a year now.

Pennsylvania just upgraded its requirements for controlling methane leaks from shale gas wells and related equipment in permits that took effect in August.

The state permits require quarterly leak surveys at new well sites and twice-a-year surveys if a company can show that less than 2 percent of its equipment components is leaking. The Pennsylvania rules also require leaks to be fixed more quickly than the federal standards.

EPA said in its proposal Tuesday that oil and gas companies operating well sites and compressor stations in Pennsylvania can comply with the Pennsylvania permits as an alternative to meeting the proposed federal requirements.

EPA said it has not determined whether a separate permit exemption process used in Pennsylvania to manage air pollution during drilling and fracking should be allowed as an alternative standard to the EPA rules.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Neil Shader said the state agency is still reviewing the federal proposal to determine how it would impact the new state permits, which are known as GP-5 and GP-5A.