Required by the Clean Air Act, and beating a court deadline, the US EPA issued a news release on April 18, 2012 stating that they have finalized air pollution standards related to oil and natural gas production. The updated standards are a result of input from the industry, public, public health groups and states. These include the first federal air rules for hydraulically fractured natural gas wells, and rules for emissions from storage tanks and other equipment.

The EPA estimates that the updated standards will save the industry $11 to $19 million annually.

Based on information collected from public comments, the updated standards establish a phase-in period to ensure that the necessary emissions-reduction technology is widely available. During the phase-in, until January 2015, natural gas well operators must flare their emissions or use “green completions” technologies that are already used at many wells. In 2015, the EPA will require each new fractured well to use green completions. This will not require new federal permits.

Costs to implement the updated standards are reduced as they are achievable with cost-effective, widely-available technologies combined with processes already used by an estimated 50% of fractured natural gas wells across the US. The combination will not only reduce harmful emissions by 95%, but will allow operators to sell additional natural gas collected.

During the production of natural gas, some gas escapes, causing air pollution. The updated standards require that operators capture the gas, which the operators can then sell, offsetting the cost of compliance. And, as approximately 13,000 wells are fractured or re-fractured each year, it is expected that reducing methane – the primary component of natural gas – will greatly benefit the environment.

It is the EPA’s goal that these standards will expand production of clean energy in the US while reducing negative impacts to public health.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson states, "The president has been clear that he wants to continue to expand production of important domestic resources like natural gas, and today’s standard supports that goal while making sure these fuels are produced without threatening the health of the American people. By ensuring the capture of gases that were previously released to pollute our air and threaten our climate, these updated standards will not only protect our health, but also lead to more product for fuel suppliers to bring to market. They're an important step toward tapping future energy supplies without exposing American families and children to dangerous health threats in the air they breathe.”

For more information, check out the EPA Web site.

After years of research and analysis, the US Environmental Protection Agency has finally passed the first Clean Air Act standard for future power plants. The rule is a step towards creating cleaner energy and decreasing pollution levels generated by the energy sector. The new standard is a result of a 2007 Supreme Court decision in the case Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, wherein several states sued the EPA to force the agency to begin regulating air pollution caused by carbon dioxide (CO₂) and greenhouse gases.

The Clean Air Act will only apply to future power plants, but even these can qualify for exemption. According to the EPA, the passed standard would exclude: new plants that have permits and plan to begin construction within the next 12 months; power plants renewing permits that are already a part of a Department of Energy demonstration project; plants that will not burn any fossil fuels; and any power plants not located in the continental US.

The Clean Air Act is a standard based on compromise with the energy sector, allowing for slower change over the long term, if at all, where necessary. The EPA already believes that most of the new natural gas combined cycle units (95% of them) will not need to adjust at all to meet the carbon pollution standard. Further to that, any new power plants that plan to employ a carbon capture and storage scheme will not need to meet the pollution cap average each year, as long as the plant’s 30 year average is lower than the proposed standard’s average over the same period of time.

According to ThinkProgress.org, the carbon pollution rule sets the standard at no more than 1,000 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt hour of electricity that is produced. Average natural gas units only emit approximately 800-850 pounds, while coal plants emit over 1,700 pounds of CO₂ per MWh. While this is well above the EPA’s standard, it does not apply to already existing plants, and new plants have a wider range of technology available to help them meet this standard.

While the new Clean Air Act for carbon pollution is a landmark piece of regulation in that it is one of the first federal rules for CO₂ pollution, it will be another 30 years before it can be determined successful or not. Furthermore, the public and health sector demand for cleaner energy has already resulted in the energy sector searching for cleaner solutions to air and waste pollution and a departure from such heavy coal and oil dependency, without the EPA passing a rule for it.

In the largest-ever fine handed down under the 1994 Environmental Protection Act, the Department of Environment and Resources Management (DERM) has fined the former owners, Copperco, Ltd., of the Lady Annie Mine A$500,000 for causing serious harm to the environment after discharging contaminated water from the mine site.

The Mt. Isa Magistrates Court imposed an additional A$83,110 for investigative costs.

The fines came on top of the A$11 million DERM had already obligated the mine's former owning entit to spend in cleanup and rehabilitation costs associated with what has been called the most serious water contamination in Queensland history.

During the wet season of 2009, the company had an uncontrolled release of highly toxic, acidic water into stormwater ponds and creeks that extended for 52 kilometers, killing freshwater crabs and fish in its wake. Complaints also came from downstream landholders that the water might harm livestock. The floods had exceeded the design capacity of Lady Annie stormwater ponds.

The Lady Annie Mine is located 120 kilometers northwest of Mt. Isa in Queensland, Australia, and from it Copperco had planned to produce 19 to 25 thousand tons of copper per year. Copperco was forced to put the mine up for sale to fund the cleanup. In 2010, Hong Kong's CST Mining Group, Ltd. purchased the site for A$135 million.

The Lady Annie Mine decision concludes actions against mines in the North West for serious breaches of the Environmental Protection Act. Actions against other mining entities included MMG Century, Ltd., which was fined A$130,000, and the Ernst Henry Mine, which was fined A$100,000 in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 wet season.

Proposed Fines Total $140,000

Headquartered in Eunice, LA, Sunland Construction is a provider of construction and related services. On December 30, 2011, OSHA cited the company for exposing workers to a possible trench collapse while replacing high-pressure gas lines along Fischer Road in Newnan, GA. OSHA is proposing $140,000 in penalties.

On August 12, 2011, an OSHA investigator noticed that Sunland had not provided a safe means of egress from a nearly 6-foot trench and had exposed workers in the trench to cave-in hazards. OSHA cited the company with two willful violations. Willful violations are committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard of the requirements, or with a plain indifference to worker safety and health.

OSHA standards mandate that all excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse. Site excavations must be shored or sloped as appropriate to prevent accidental collapse. The collapse of a 5x5-foot trench a yard deep produces a soil spill weighing close to 7500 pounds, making it a life-threatening event.

"Cave-ins can happen quickly, without warning and with deadly consequences. OSHA will not allow employers to be indifferent to protecting their employees against these hazards," said Andre Richards, Director of OSHA's Atlanta-West Area Office.

Sunland had previously received three citations since 2010 in Alabama, North Carolina and Texas. The Texas violations were similar to those committed in Georgia. The company has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Health and Safety Review Commission.

Detailed information on trenching and excavation hazards is available at OSHA's Web site.