Analysis of U.S. produced water controls -- Are they cost-effective?
- Argonne National Lab., Washington, DC (United States). Water Policy Program
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes controls on produced water discharges into US waters through effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs), and general and individual discharge permits. Over the past 20 years, produced water controls have become much stricter, and in some areas, no discharge of produced water is allowed. In setting discharge standards, EPA considers vast amounts of data, makes assumptions regarding which data and what approaches are representative, selects the most appropriate analytical methods, and interprets the analytical results. Despite EPA`s considerable efforts to accurately understand and characterize the economic and environmental impacts of produced water discharges before proposing and adopting ELGs and issuing permits, current US produced water controls may be overly restrictive and not cost-effective. This paper summarizes several studies that have reviewed in detail EPA`s data, assumptions, and analytical methods for earlier proposed regulations and general permits. These include the offshore oil and gas ELGs, EPA`s Region 6 general permit for coastal waters, and most recently, the proposed ELGs for the coastal oil and gas industry. By substituting different data, using revised assumptions, and reanalyzing data that are equally or more valid, the studies reach alternate conclusions on the cost-effectiveness of current produced water controls.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., Washington, DC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 195634
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/EA/CP-85967; CONF-9509296-1; ON: DE96004775; TRN: AHC29605%%9
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. international petroleum environmental conference: environmental issues and solutions in petroleum exploration, production, and refining, New Orleans, LA (United States), 25-27 Sep 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
29 ENERGY PLANNING AND POLICY
WASTE WATER
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
SURFACE WATERS
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
COASTAL WATERS
CALCULATION METHODS
RADIUM
BENZOPYRENE
BORON
AMMONIA
ECONOMIC IMPACT
EVALUATED DATA