State defers oil and gas NPDES takeover

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a request by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to defer by a year phase IV of the transfer of the administration and enforcement of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System from EPA to the state. NPDES, mandated under the federal Clean Water Act, requires government regulation of discharges into the waters of the United States. Starting in 2008, EPA has been transitioning NPDES administration from the federal government to the State of Alaska.

The transition has been taking place in four phases, with phase IV, the last phase, covering discharges from oil and gas facilities, as well as the regulation of discharges from cooling water intakes and munitions. NPDES permitting impacts most oil and gas exploration and development projects, as well as oil and gas operations.

Phases I, II, and III of the transition to Alaska NPDES primacy have already been completed. Phase IV was slated for completion by Oct. 31, 2011, but EPA has now accepted an ADEC request to move the completion target for this phase to Oct. 31, 2012.

According to the ADEC website “both EPA and ADEC agree the transfer extension will be beneficial to allow more time to apply the combined resources of both agencies to the substantial workload associated with the oil and gas sector permits.”

Phase I of the transition included permitting for domestic wastewater, timber harvesting and seafood processing; phase II included federal facilities and storm water; phase III covered mining activities.

—Alan Bailey