Providing Regulatory Clarity and Protections against Known Risks
On this page:
- Ensuring that hydraulic fracturing using diesel fuels is properly permitted
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Ensuring the safe management of wastewater, stormwater, and other wastes
- EPA study on managing produced water
- Underground injection control (UIC) of waste disposal fluids from oil and natural gas wells (Class II wells)
- Wastewater discharges to treatment facilities
- Stormwater discharges from oil and natural gas operations or transmission facilities
- Use of disposal ponds and impoundments
- Recycling of wastewater
Natural gas and shale gas extraction operations can result in a number of potential impacts to the environment, including:
- Stress on surface water and ground water supplies from the withdrawal of large volumes of water used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing;
- Contamination of underground sources of drinking water and surface waters resulting from spills, faulty well construction, or by other means;
- Adverse impacts from discharges into surface waters or from disposal into underground injection wells; and
- Air pollution resulting from the release of volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and greenhouse gases.
Ensuring that hydraulic fracturing using diesel fuels is properly permitted
A core element of the Safe Drinking Water Act's (SDWA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program is setting requirements for proper well siting, construction, and operation to minimize risks to underground sources of drinking water. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 excluded hydraulic fracturing, except when diesel fuels are used, for oil, natural gas or geothermal production from regulation under the UIC program. This statutory language caused regulators and the regulated community alike to raise questions about the applicability of permitting practices.
We have developed revised UIC Class II permitting guidance specific to oil and natural gas hydraulic fracturing activities using diesel fuels. Although developed specifically for hydraulic fracturing where diesel fuels are used, many of the guidance’s recommended practices are consistent with best practices for hydraulic fracturing in general, including those found in state regulations and model guidelines for hydraulic fracturing developed by industry and stakeholders. Thus, states and tribes responsible for issuing permits and/or updating regulations for hydraulic fracturing will find the recommendations useful in improving the protection of underground sources of drinking water and public health wherever hydraulic fracturing occurs.
We issued the guidance alongside an interpretive memorandum, which clarifies that Class II UIC requirements apply to hydraulic fracturing activities using diesel fuels, and defines the statutory term “diesel fuel” by reference to five chemical abstract services registry numbers. The guidance outlines for our permit writers, where we are the permitting authority,
(i) existing Class II requirements for diesel fuels used for hydraulic fracturing wells, and
(ii) technical recommendations for permitting those wells consistently with these requirements.
Learn more:
Ensuring the safe management of wastewater, stormwater, and other wastes
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As the number of shale gas wells in the U.S. increases, so too does the volume of shale gas wastewater that requires disposal. Wastewater associated with shale gas extraction can contain high levels of salt content also called total dissolved solids or TDS. The wastewater can also contain various organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, metals, and naturally occurring radioactive materials (also referred to as technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material or TENORM). In partnership with states,we are examining the different management methods employed by industry to ensure that there are regulatory and permitting frameworks in place to provide safe and legal options for disposal of flowback and produced water. These options include:
EPA Study on Managing Produced Water
The study will consider available approaches to manage wastewater from both conventional and unconventional oil and gas extraction at onshore facilities, and will address questions such as:
- how existing federal approaches to produced water management under the CWA can interact more effectively with state regulations, requirements or policy needs, and
- whether potential federal regulations that may allow for broader discharge of treated produced water to surface waters are supported.
- Learn more about the study.
Underground injection of waste fluids from oil and natural gas wells (Class II wells)
In many regions of the U.S., underground injection is the most common method of managing fluids or other substances from shale gas extraction operations. Management of flowback and produced water via underground injection is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act's Underground Injection Control (UIC) program.
Wastewater discharges to treatment facilities
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The Clean Water Act (CWA) effluent guidelines program sets national standards for industrial wastewater discharges to surface waters and municipal sewage treatment plants based on the performance of treatment and control technologies. Effluent guidelines for on-shore oil and natural gas extraction facilities prohibit the discharge of pollutants into surface waters, except for wastewater that is of good enough quality for use in agricultural and wildlife propagation for those onshore facilities located in the continental United States and west of the 98th meridian.
Final rule: On June 28, 2016, we promulgated pretreatment standards for the Oil and Gas Extraction Category (40 CFR Part 435). The regulations prohibit discharges of wastewater pollutants from onshore unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) extraction facilities to POTWs.
Related study of private wastewater treatment facilities: We are conducting a study of private wastewater treatment facilities (also known as centralized waste treatment, or CWT, facilities) accepting oil and natural gas extraction wastewater. We are collecting data and information related to the extent to which CWT facilities accept such wastewater, available treatment technologies (and their associated costs), discharge characteristics, financial characteristics of CWT facilities, the environmental impacts of discharges from CWT facilities, and other relevant information.
- Learn more about effluent guidelines for unconventional extraction in the oil and natural gas industry
Stormwater discharges from oil and natural gas operations or transmission facilities
Under the CWA, oil and natural gas exploration, production, processing, or treatment operations or transmission facilities, including associated construction activities, are not required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit coverage for stormwater discharges unless there is a reportable quantity spill or the discharge causes or contributes to a water quality violation.
Use of surface impoundments (pits or ponds) for storage or disposal
In some cases, operators use surface storage tanks and pits to temporarily store hydraulic fracturing fluids for re-use or until arrangements are made for disposal. In addition, other wastes are generated during the well drilling, stimulation, and production stages. States, tribes, and some local governments have primary responsibility for adopting and implementing programs to ensure proper management of these wastes.
- Regulation of crude oil and natural gas waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Proper Management of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Waste (main page on RCRA regulation of wastes from hydraulic fracturing processes)
- Review of State Oil and Natural Gas Exploration, Development, and Production (E&P) Solid Waste Management Regulations (April 2014)
- Compilation of Publicly Available Sources of Voluntary Management Practices for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) Wastes as They Address Pits, Tanks, and Land Application (April 2014)
- Proper Management of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Waste (main page on RCRA regulation of wastes from hydraulic fracturing processes)
Recycling of wastewater
Some drilling operators elect to re-use a portion of the wastewater to replace and/or supplement fresh water in formulating fracturing fluid for a future well or re-fracturing the same well. Re-use of shale gas wastewater is, in part, dependent on the levels of pollutants in the wastewater and the proximity of other fracturing sites that might re-use the wastewater. This practice has the potential to reduce discharges to treatment facilities or surface waters, minimize underground injection of wastewater and conserve water resources.
Addressing air quality impacts
There have been well-documented air quality impacts in areas with active natural gas development, with increases in emissions of methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The EPA, the Department of the Interior, other federal agencies and states are working to better characterize and reduce these air emissions and their associated impacts.
Through the Natural Gas STAR program, the EPA and partner companies have identified technologies and practices that can cost-effectively reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector in the U.S. and abroad.
Through the Clean Construction USA program, we are promoting newer, more efficient technology and cleaner fuels to innovate the ways in which hydraulic fracturing equipment and vehicles reduce emissions. We also administer Clean Air Act regulations for oil and natural gas production, including regulations on reporting greenhouse gas emissions.