Companies ordered to pay $9.25 million in civil penalties and mandatory improvements to facilities and equipment.
Clean Air Act Enforcement
In a recent announcement, the EPA has reported that they have reached a settlement with three companies operating processing plants and compressor stations across 12 states and 2 Tribal communities requiring a combined payout of $9.25 million dollars in civil penalties and mandatory improvements to facilities and equipment. This is an example of enforcement of requirements laid out in the Clean Air Act (CAA) that should stand as a cautionary tale to oil and gas operators who may be on the fence about emissions reduction strategies. It stands to reason that these companies could have avoided these fines if they had the proper flow measurement solutions in place as part of their emissions monitoring strategy.
You can read the full details of the settlements in the EPA announcement here.
Affected Facilities and Equipment: Compressor Stations and Gas Compressors
Leaks and emissions from compressor stations were highlighted as one of the reasons for the enforcement of the CAA in this announcement. Operators need to know that there is a reasonable ROI for leak detection and the installation of monitoring equipment. Fox Thermal has created an Application Optimizer and written a White Paper that maps out how thermal mass flow measurement from Fox Thermal can be incorporated into their LDAR programs to help them avoid fines at compressor stations from costly gas compressor packing leaks.
Affected Facilities and Equipment: Flares
Also included in these settlements was the monitoring and reporting of emissions from flares. Fox Thermal products are the trusted solution in the industry for flare gas flow measurement. Our unique product features and advanced technology are ideally suited to this tricky gas flow measurement application. As the EPA requires monitoring equipment to ensure optimal flare performance and control efficiency, it's in the interest of every operator to get their flares equipped before fines like these are applied to their operations. To get the right flow meter for your flare or combustor application, Fox Thermal has written this White Paper on the “6 Things to Consider in Flare and Combustor Gas measurement”. Download your copy today!
