State air board adopts federal oil-and-gas emissions guidelines and updates federal standards in state code

The State Air Pollution Control Board voted to adopt federal emissions guidelines for existing crude oil and natural gas facilities and to update its incorporated federal standards to the July 1, 2024 Code of Federal Regulations references.

Megan Joyce, air compliance manager in DEQs Office of Air Compliance Coordination, told the board the action adopts EPAs emissions guidelines (issued 12/06/2022 and published in the Federal Register 03/08/2024) into a standalone state rule so Virginia can meet the Clean Air Act section 111(d) obligations and avoid imposition of a federal plan. Joyce said the state plans are due by 03/09/2026 and final facility compliance dates are due by 03/09/2029.

"The emissions guidelines for the existing crude oil and natural gas facilities," Joyce said, summarizing the first exempt final regulation. She highlighted monitoring for leaks, documentation for proper well closure and plugging, reduced flaring, continuous operation requirements for control devices, emission standards for dry-seal compressors and best management practices to minimize venting.

Board members questioned how DEQ would oversee thousands of affected facilities. Joyce said the program is an unfunded mandate and that enforcement will be primarily complaint-driven, supplemented by random spot inspections and coordination with EPA partners. "This is actually an unfunded mandate," she said, describing the departments inspection approach.

In a separate but related action, Joyce presented an exempt final regulation to update the states incorporated CFR book date to 07/01/2024 and add 11 new NSPS for multiple source categories, including crude oil and natural gas units, battery recycling (lead secondary smelters), steel electric-arc furnaces, VOC equipment-leak standards and greenhouse-gas controls for electric generating units. She said adding these federal standards and receiving delegation from EPA gives DEQ enforcement authority at the state level.

The board moved and seconded the staff recommendation and approved both actions by voice vote with no recorded roll call.

What this means: adopting the federal guidelines and incorporating updated NSPS lets Virginia implement those federal requirements at the state level rather than leaving enforcement to EPA. The board and staff said the rules will apply to specific sources as defined by each federal standard; some sectors (for example, certain wells and compressor stations) were called out as likely to be within scope, while other new subparts will not affect any currently known Virginia facilities.

The board affirmed that it will receive and respond to petitions for reconsideration or revision under the Administrative Process Act. Implementation details such as inspection frequency, staffing and resourcing were described as work the department will develop through policy and coordination with EPA.

The boards adoption is an administrative action to conform state rules to federal standards; affected facilities will have the timeline provided by the federal rule for compliance and any applicable state permitting steps thereafter.