DCP Midstream LP Clean Air Act Settlement

(Denver, CO) On July 25, 2022, EPA, the Department of Justice, and the State of Colorado announced a settlement with DCP Operating Company LP and five other subsidiaries of DCP Midstream LP that will strengthen leak detection and repair (LDAR) practices at eight natural gas processing plants in Weld County, Colorado.

The natural gas processing plants subject to the settlement are located in an area that does not meet EPA’s 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone (the “nonattainment area”). In addition to implementing measures that will strengthen LDAR practices, DCP has agreed to perform an environmental mitigation project to mitigate the harm caused by past emissions. This settlement is part of the EPA’s national compliance initiative to create cleaner air for communities by reducing excess emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Overview
Violations
Injunctive Relief
Pollutant Impacts
Health and Environmental Effects
Civil Penalty
Additional Environmental Compliance Information
Comment Period
Contact

Overview of Company

DCP Operating Company, LP; DCP Midstream Holding, LLC; DCP LP Holdings, LLC; DCP Partners Colorado LLC; DCP Assets Holding, LP; and DCP Lucerne 2 Plant LLC (collectively, DCP) are all subsidiaries of DCP Midstream LP, which is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. This case concerns DCP’s natural gas processing plants in an area of Colorado designated as nonattainment with the 8-hour NAAQS for ozone.

DCP is engaged in the gathering, compressing, treating, and processing of natural gas, the transportation, trading, marketing, and fractionation of natural gas liquids, and the recovery of condensate. DCP has operations in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, including the Denver-Julesburg Basin, Permian Basin, and the Eagle Ford.

This settlement will require strengthened LDAR practices at 8 natural gas processing plants owned and operated by DCP.

Violations

The United States and the State of Colorado have filed a complaint against DCP Operating Company LP and 5 other subsidiaries of DCP Midstream LP for violations of the Clean Air Act and analogous state air pollution control laws at DCP natural gas processing plants in Colorado.

The complaint alleges that DCP failed to comply with LDAR requirements under several New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) applicable to natural gas processing plants.

Injunctive Relief

DCP has agreed to the following as part of a settlement to resolve the alleged Clean Air Act violations:

comply with NSPS Subpart OOOOa at the natural gas processing plants subject to the settlement;
implement an LDAR Program that will bring facilities into compliance with LDAR regulations, and which includes measures to mitigate the environmental harm caused by alleged noncompliance;

implement fugitive leak monitoring for equipment, including fin fan heat exchangers, using optical gas imaging (OGI) instrumentation; and

submission of applications for permit amendments (Title V and non-Title V) to incorporate consent decree requirements that will survive termination of the Consent Decree.

DCP will implement these measures at the Greeley, Kersey/Mewbourne, Platteville, Roggen, Spindle, O’Connor and Lucerne natural gas processing plants, as well as the to-be-constructed Bighorn natural gas processing plant.

Implementation of these measures is estimated to result in the reduction of approximately 198 tons of VOC emissions over a five-year Consent Decree.

Mitigation Project

DCP will implement an environmental mitigation project to install a dry seal recompression system on two Solar Taurus 70 inlet gas turbines at the Kersey/Mewbourn natural gas processing plant. This project will reduce VOC emissions by approximately 26 tons per year of VOC and 375 tons per year of methane. Implementation of this project will cost $1,150,000.

Pollutant Impacts

Ozone is not emitted directly from air pollution sources. Instead, it is photochemical oxidant formed when certain chemicals—VOC and NO_x—in the ambient air react with oxygen in the presence of sunlight. VOC and NO_xare called “ozone precursors.” Sources that emit ozone precursors are regulated to reduce ground-level ozone in the ambient air. The Denver-area is currently classified as nonattainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. The nonattainment area spans Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, and parts of Larimer and Weld counties.

The Denver-area’s location next to the Rocky Mountains makes it prone to temperature inversions, in which warm air traps cooler air near the ground such that pollutants do not rise into the atmosphere. These inversion conditions can lead to an unhealthy—and even visible—air pollution buildup.

DCP’s natural gas processing plants emit VOC and other pollutants. In total, the consent decree’s injunctive relief and mitigation project will reduce emissions of over 288 tons of volatile organic compounds and 1,300 tons of methane over five years.

Health and Environmental Effects

Ground-level ozone can cause temporary breathing difficulty for people with asthma, airway inflammation, and even permanent scarring of lung tissue from repeated exposure. This settlement’s emissions reductions will help address the Denver-area’s ozone nonattainment status generally, as well as the visible buildup of air pollution during inversion conditions.

Civil Penalty

DCP will pay a $3.25 million civil penalty for the alleged violations.

Additional Environmental Compliance Information

Comment Period

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on submitting comments is available at the Department of Justice website.

Contact Information

Jessica Portmess, Attorney
Office of Regional Counsel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Region 8
1595 Wynkoop Street (8ORC-R)
Denver, CO 80202
303-312-7026
Portmess.Jessica@epa.gov