Talk:Clean Water Act/Archives/2013

Oil and gas industry stormwater discharges

This article provides an overview of the Clean Water Act. Detailed explanations of pollutants, wastestreams, and technologies in specific industries should be covered in separate articles (e.g., industry-specific, pollutant or wastestream-specific, industrial stormwater, etc.). The following text, which was recently added, discusses an exemption that Congress granted for one set of wastestreams (i.e., stormwater) discharged by the oil and gas industry. The text was inserted in the introductory "Point sources" section, which is out of place. I added a footnote about the exemption in that section. The exemption could be briefly explained in the stormwater discussion further down, but a more detailed discussion would be better placed in another article. I removed the recently added oil & gas section--which is mostly quotations from the statute--but it is preserved below. Moreau1 (talk) 03:20, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

====Update on Regulation of Oil and Gas Construction Activities====

The 1987 Water Quality Act (WQA) added section 402(l)(2) to the CWA specifying that EPA and States shall not require NPDES permits for uncontaminated storm water discharges from oil and gas exploration, production, processing or treatment operations, or transmission facilities. Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 323, added a new provision to the CWA defining the term "oil and gas exploration, production, processing, or treatment operations or transmission facilities" to mean "all field activities or operations associated with exploration, production, processing, or treatment operations, or transmission facilities, including activities necessary to prepare a site for drilling and for the movement and placement of drilling equipment, whether or not such field activities or operations may be considered to be construction activity." See 33 U.S.C. § 1362(24).

On June 12, 2006, EPA published a regulation that exempted from NPDES permit requirements stormwater discharges of sediment from construction activities associated with oil and gas exploration, production, processing, or treatment operations or transmission facilities unless the relevant facility had a discharge of stormwater resulting in a discharge of a reportable quantity of oil or hazardous substances. 40 CFR § 122.26(a)(2)(ii) (citing 122.26(c)(1)(iii)(C)).

The 2006 rule was later vacated. The current regulations are those that were in place prior to the 2006 rule plus the additional Energy Policy Act clarification of the activities included in the CWA 402(l)(2) exemption. The regulations say:

"122.26(a)(2) The Director may not require a permit for discharges of storm water runoff from mining operations or oil and gas exploration, production, processing or treatment operations or transmission facilities, composed entirely of flows which are from conveyances or systems of conveyances (including but not limited to pipes, conduits, ditches, and channels) used for collecting and conveying precipitation runoff and which are not contaminated by contact with or that has not come into contact with, any overburden, raw material, intermediate products, finished product, byproduct or waste products located on the site of such operations.

122.26(e)(8) For any storm water discharge associated with small construction activity identified in paragraph (b)(15)(i) of this section, see 122.21(c)(1). Discharges from these sources, other than discharges associated with small construction activity at oil and gas exploration, production, processing, and treatment operations or transmission facilities, require permit authorization by March 10, 2003, unless designated for coverage before then. Discharges associated with small construction activity at such oil and gas sites require permit authorization by June 12, 2006."