NPDES permits have increased emphasis on control of toxic pollutants
Journal Article
·
· Oil and Gas Journal
OSTI ID:415667
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
The latest National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits issued to the oil and gas industry have become significantly more stringent and complex. Operators will have to exercise more diligence in monitoring discharges to ensure compliance. The 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act emphasized stricter control of toxics in wastewater discharges. Although state and US Environmental Protection Agency permit writers have had the authority to incorporate strict water quality-based controls in permits, they did not widely use this authority in the past. However, general permits proposed in the past year by Region 6 for discharges into the territorial seas of Louisiana and by Region 10 for coastal and offshore discharges in Alaska are much stricter than their predecessors. The Region 6 permit requires numerical produced water limits on arsenic, lead, benzene, total phenols, radium, and whole effluent toxicity. The Region 10 permit requires numerical produced water limits on copper, arsenic, zinc, total aromatic hydrocarbons, total aqueous hydrocarbons, and whole effluent toxicity. The additional requirements increase the cost of complying with the permit, present more changes for exceeding one of the permit limits, and serve as a precedent for future permits. The industry should be prepared to accept the additional costs of these requirements or develop data to convince the regulatory agencies that the increasing level of monitoring and permit limits is not necessary to protect water quality.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 415667
- Journal Information:
- Oil and Gas Journal, Journal Name: Oil and Gas Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 95; ISSN 0030-1388; ISSN OIGJAV
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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