The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the January 28 PA Bulletin announcing the availability of a revised GP-1 Air Quality General Permit for Natural Gas and Oil-Fired Small Combustion Units.

The primary change from the original GP-1 was to increase the size of the combustion units covered by the general permit from 50 million Btu/hour to 100 million Btu/hour.

As a general rule (Section A.9), this general permit says it can be used if the emissions from all sources and control equipment located at a facility and sources determined by DEP to be a single source are equal to or less than these amounts during a 12-month rolling sum basis--

-- 100 tons of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides;

-- 100 tons of particulate matter (PM10)

-- 100 tons of particulate matter (PM2.5)

-- 50 tons of volatile organic compounds

-- 25 tons of total hazardous air pollutants

-- 10 tons of any individual hazardous air pollutants

The changes will primarily benefit the operators of natural gas infrastructure from well pads to pipelines to natural gas processing plants that use a variety of natural gas-fired combustion units in their operations.

In fact, the Marcellus Shale Coalition was only one of two groups to comment on the draft GP-1 general permit when DEP put it out for public review in January of 2022.  The other commenter was a company that makes combustion units.

As a rule, general permits do not require any public notice ahead of a decision by DEP to authorize their use in individual cases.  However, after-the-fact notices are generally published in the PA Bulletin.

Click Here for copies of the GP-1 permit, supporting documents and a comment/response document.   Questions should be directed to Sean Wenrich, DEP, by email to: sewenrich@pa.gov or call (717) 772-3979.

PA DEP Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 21 to 27  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - Jan. 28  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts 56 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In Jan. 28 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Compliance Reports:

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’

Related Articles This Week:

-- House Republicans Name Advocate For Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Rep. Martin Causer Chair Of House Environmental Committee  [PaEN]

-- DCED’s Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Advisory Council Meets Feb. 16  [PaEN]

-- DEP Releases Bid Solicitation To Plug 19 Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Forest County All At Taxpayer Expense  [PaEN]

-- DEP Blog: Plugging PA’s Abandoned Conventional Oil And Gas Wells

-- DEP Issues Revised Air Quality General Permit For Natural Gas, Oil-Fired Small Combustion Units Up To 100 Million Btu/Hour; Benefits Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- Natural Gas Industry, Senate Republicans Launch Effort To Unleash The Industry, Reduce Regulation, Call For Automatic Approval Of Permits, Limit Public Comments  [PaEN]

-- Damascus Citizens For Sustainability Files Lawsuit Challenging The Delaware River Basin Commission Fracking Wastewater Rule Generally And For Allowing Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Creating Widespread Pollution  [PaEN]

-- PUC: Act 13 Per Well Drilling Impact Fee To Increase For Calendar Year 2022 Nearly 28% For Unconventional Shale Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Seeking Information On Use Of Drones For Environmental Monitoring Work; Feb. 3 Online Meeting Set On Oil & Gas Facility Monitoring Project  [PaEN]

-- Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community  Feb. 1 Monthly Eyes On Shell Meeting. 7:30 p.m.

[Posted: January 28, 2023]

1/30/2023