New Owner Clean Air Act Audit Program for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production Facilities
Effective December 12, 2024, the USEPA is no longer accepting proposals to initiate an audit under the New Owner Clean Air Act Audit Program for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production Facilities. EPA has discontinued the sector-specific existing owner program and the new owner audit programs for oil and natural gas exploration and production facilities. Any interested parties may refer to EPA’s Audit policy (https://www.epa.gov/compliance/epas-audit-policy).
On March 29, 2019, EPA finalized a New Owner Clean Air Act Audit Program tailored for the oil and natural gas sector. This program provides environmentally protective efficiencies and certainty in the oil and natural gas sector based on the Agency’s analysis of the sector’s unique operations. EPA views the Program as an opportunity for timely and cost-effective Clean Air Act compliance.
The program is initially being made available to upstream exploration and production sites where EPA and states have seen significant noncompliance. EPA believes that offering additional flexibilities under a specific and tailored new owner audit program will make it easier for the regulated community to self-disclose and correct violations, thereby providing additional protection for public health and the environment. More detail on the program can be found in the Implementation Final Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production Facilities New Owner Audit Program Questions and Answers, below.
Standard Agreement
EPA has developed a standard audit program agreement template for participating new owners, shown below. A key component of the program requires companies to assess storage tank battery vapor control system design as part of the audit process. In developing this standard agreement, EPA sought feedback from states, tribes, the regulated community, environmental NGOs and other stakeholders. A summary of stakeholder comments can be found here.
For questions regarding the draft, please contact Gregory Fried (fried.gregory@epa.gov, Tel. 202-564-7016) or Tim Sullivan (sullivan.tim@epa.gov, Tel. 303-312-6196).
[Note: This New Owner Template has ben modified based on stakeholder feedback and to be consistent with the Existing Owner Template]