Industrial Stormwater Links & Guidance, Minnesota PCA

Lots of useful tips and guidance on this web site provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

MPCA Industrial Stormwater Home Page

"Running With Oil" Stories About North Dakota's Oil Boom

""Running with Oil,” a series of reports on North Dakota’s booming oil industry, appeared Aug. 15 through Aug. 22 2010 in the North Dakota newspapers of Forum Communications Co.: The Dickinson Press, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, the Grand Forks Herald and the Jamestown Sun. Each day of the series is archived on this site. Choose the day you'd like to view from the navigation bar above." (Click on title to go to home page.)

North Dakota O&G Map

Zoom in to location of any well or gas plant within the state.

Legal Challenge to MACT Methodology

Challenge is based on two points:

• EPA looks at separate facilities acheiving low emission rates for distinct pollutants, then combines all those into one standard.
• EPA bases their achievability determinations on performance for a single year, ignoring multi-year variability.

Because of these two factors, EPA's MACT floors are not "achieved in practice."

InsideEPA.com Article

Amendments to Cement MACT & NSPS

"On August 6, 2010, EPA issued amendments to two rules that will significantly reduce emissions of mercury and other air toxics and particle-forming pollutants from new and existing Portland cement kilns across the United States. The rules also will limit emissions of ozone- and particle-forming pollutants from new kilns."

Cement MACT-NSPS Fact Sheet

Final Rule 9/9/2010

Flare Guidance (Modeling, Emissions, etc)

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Flare Modeling Guidance from NDDH

Iowa DNR guidance and spreadsheet tool -- links on this page

Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission


(updated post 8/19/2011, KMM)
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Proposed Transport Rule (CAIR Replacement) Article

"A new rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants in Eastern and Midwestern states.[1] Known as the Transport Rule, EPA’s proposed regulation replaces EPA’s Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which would have established an interstate trading program for sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from power plants."

Proposed Transport Rule Article
(Martin Law article)

WCI Final Design of C&T System

"On July 27, 2010, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) released the Final Design for its regional cap-and-trade program...However, the sustained economic downturn has withered state-level support for the WCI and cast doubt over the extent to which the program will be implemented by WCI’s January 2012 deadline. Some member states have expressly withdrawn support for the program, while others have indicated that they will not have regulations in place necessary to meet the January 1, 2012, implementation deadline. Nonetheless, the Final Design represents the clearest and most detailed articulation of an alternative to comprehensive federal climate change regulation."

WCI C and T Final Design Article
(Martin Law article)

Congressional Opposition to Proposed CCR Rule

"Republicans are considering using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to formally disapprove and undo EPA's pending final coal waste disposal rule if the agency classifies the waste as hazardous, with the GOP saying it expects bipartisan support for the legislative maneuver given lawmakers' existing concerns over the proposed rule."

CCR Rule Congressional Oposition Article
(InsideEPA.com article)

Oil & Gas Regulation Developments

“A recently created task force in EPA Region III is exploring options to use existing tools such as targeted enforcement and permit objections to impose stricter environmental protection standards on fossil fuel extraction in the key energy states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- which include growing natural gas drilling operations and a heavy coal mining presence.”

EPA Resource Extraction Task Force article


An article from InsideEPA.com focusing on Texas vs. EPA differences in aggregating O&G facilities. It includes a link to TCEQ’s proposed rule (also linked below) which contains a wealth of information about O&G field operations and much detail regarding proposed regulations. There’s a lot there in 121 pages. One thing I noted that seemed a little strange is that any refined modeling would be done using ISC.

Proposed TCEQ OG Rules Article

TCEQ proposed OG rules

Handling Pricing Pressure

"The experts say that competing on price does little to ensure customer loyalty and everything to ensure that you’ll play the price game each time you bid on a project. In the environmental industry, slashing prices has become a knee-jerk reaction for those who are unprepared to counter pricing pushback from potential clients with value-based sales tactics."

Pricing Pressure Article

Montana Standard Article: Crowd rails on MSTI proposal

MSTI Article