As mentioned earlier, I recently dedicated my monthly column for the The Legal Intelligencer/Pennsylvania Law Weekly to an examination of two Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board appeals which address aggregation of air emission sources under the Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. 

This week the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) has issued draft technical guidance on this issue.  PADEP’s draft guidance addresses how to determine when two operations in the oil and gas business constitute a single "source" for purposes of regulation under the federal and state air statutes.  Sources that emit more than a threshold amount of a pollutant (typically 250 tons/year for each pollutant) are subject to a somewhat onerous permitting requirement before being constructed or modified (that is, nonattainment new source review or Prevention of Significant Deterioration new  source review). 

The draft guidance interprets longstanding (but confusing) federal requirements that apply a three part test:  two well pads, compressor stations, or processing plants constitute a single "source" if (a) they are in the same industry, (b) they are under common control, and (c) they are "contiguous" or "adjacent."  The PADEP guidance focuses (properly) on whether two facilities in the natural gas industry under control of the same or  related entities are "contiguous" or "adjacent."  PADEP will not generally "daisy chain" facilities along a gathering system, nor will it allow the pipelines to establish contiguity.  It will consider surface facilities as a single source if they are within a quarter-mile and more distant facilities as a single source on a case-by-case basis.

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Photo of David Mandelbaum David Mandelbaum

David G. Mandelbaum represents clients facing problems under environmental laws. He regularly represents clients in lawsuits and also has helped clients achieve satisfactory outcomes through regulatory negotiation or private transactions. A Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, David teaches Superfund, and…

David G. Mandelbaum represents clients facing problems under environmental laws. He regularly represents clients in lawsuits and also has helped clients achieve satisfactory outcomes through regulatory negotiation or private transactions. A Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, David teaches Superfund, and Oil and Gas Law in rotation at the Temple University Beasley School of Law as well as an environmental litigation course at Suffolk (Boston) Law School.

Since United States v. Atlas Minerals, the first multi-generator Superfund contribution case to go to trial in 1993, Mr. Mandelbaum has been engaged in matters involving allocation of costs among responsible parties, especially under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).  He has tried large cases and resolved others as lead counsel.  He has written, spoken, and taught extensively on the subject.  More recently he also has been engaged to assist lead counsel from this firm and others:

  • to develop cost allocation methodologies;
  • to craft expert testimony in support of a favored methodology (given a definition of “fairness,” why one methodology better tracks it than another);
  • to develop efficient case management approaches; and to assist private allocation as part of the neutral team.

Concentrations

  • Air, water and waste regulation
  • Superfund and contamination
  • Climate change
  • Oil and gas development
  • Water rights