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Jonah wells may add haze, ozone impacts

Conservationists say BLM decision has no regulatory teeth to protect air quality.

By Rebecca Huntington

The 3,100 oil and gas wells recently allowed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Jonah Field southeast of Jackson will generate haze and smog over nearby communities and wilderness, conservationists say.

Energy industry officials counter that new technologies are being developed to reduce such emissions and protect air quality.

For its part, BLM acknowledges concerns about air quality but states in a March decision document that pollution modeling projects no significant impacts to public health.

As for air quality in Class I airshed such as the Bridger, Fitzpatrick and Pop Agie wilderness areas, which the Clean Air Act requires be maintained or enhanced, the BLM decision states that monitoring and pollution reduction efforts will be in place to deal with potential problems.

Conservationists disagree, saying the measures outlined by BLM have no regulatory teeth to ensure wilderness air quality or public health would be protected. Moreover, BLM ignored a Forest Service recommendation to consider phasing development over 30 years to limit air pollution – a position advocated by conservationists as well.

“There’s no question that if this project is implemented as planned by BLM, there will be very severe impacts to air quality,” said Bruce Pendery, an attorney and public lands director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

In particular, Pendery points to the mitigation measures, which depend largely on new technology not readily available and voluntary efforts by industry.

For example, the decision calls for requiring on drill rigs Tier II diesel engines, which burn cleaner than older Tier I diesel engines “at the earliest possible date.” The decision, however, sets no specific timeline for converting to cleaner drill rigs. The decision also calls for testing and approving other “best available technology,” such as natural-gas-fired rigs, to reduce emissions.

“There will come a time when that technology will be available, it will be on every drill rig, and it will do a fine job of controlling air pollution,” Pendery said Monday. “That day is not now, and that day is not necessarily on the horizon.”

EnCana Oil & Gas Community Relations Advisor Randy Teeuwen disagrees. The majority operator in the Jonah Field, EnCana is the only energy company using a natural-gas-fired drill rig, Teeuwen said. The company successfully tested the rig, which uses natural gas from the field to power electric motors to run the drill and reduces emissions by 90 percent compared to conventional diesel rigs, he said.

The company has one natural-gas-fired rig and is retrofitting another among the 15 rigs currently operating on the field, he said. EnCana has ordered four more, which should be in operation by the end of the year, he said.

“We are looking at all available technology to help us mitigate air emissions in the Jonah Field,” Teeuwen said. “That is very important to us.”

The BLM decision relies on operators to prove emissions reductions in the Jonah Field by using “best available technologies” such as natural-gas rigs which operators say could do better than Tier II technology. But Pendery argues that those measures rest too heavily on the goodwill of industry.

For example, the BLM document states, “BLM will rely on the operators to determine how they will attain the reduction in potential visibility impacts from the Jonah Infill project.”

BLM would choose the method for measuring visibility impacts, in consultation with the state, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, the document states.

However, those agencies have not always agreed on how to define air quality impacts. For example, the Forest Service has determined that when haze reaches 1 deciview that it is a significant impact. The BLM, however, has counted days that exceed 1 deciview as having an impact but not days that equal 1 deciview.

The Forest Service asked the BLM to correct those projections in formal comments submitted last September. The change would increase projected days of haze from the project, under a high emissions scenario, to 33 days, up from 31, in the Bridger Wilderness, according to the Forest Service. Under a low-emissions scenario, the number of days increased to 16, up from 15 days, according to the Forest Service. Although only a matter of days, the Forest Service stressed that a change equal to 1 deciview is “a significant adverse impact” and should be counted.

The BLM’s final decision documents does not specify whether the Forest Service standards would be used but instead says BLM would “consult” with the state, EPA and Forest Service.

The decision calls for the creation of a Jonah Interagency Monitoring and Mitigation Office to evaluate the effectiveness of guidelines, mitigation, best management practices and monitoring. However, that office, which would involve other state and federal agencies, such as the Forest Service, could only make recommendations to BLM, which would retain decision-making authority.

BLM’s decision also calls for discussing changes in management of the Jonah Field if ozone, or smog, standards are exceeded. Pendery called that approach too lax, saying, “First we’re going to violate, then we’ll worry about it.”