Letters & Comments

IPAA and API submitted joint comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as it looks at permitting incidental take under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The comments question whether the approaches described in the Service’s Notice of Intent are authorized by or consistent with the intent of the statute upon which the Service relies.

On behalf of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, the Natural Gas Supply Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, we write to applaud the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for introducing the Energy Policy and Modernization Act of 2015 (EPMA 2015). Specifically, we are encouraged by the inclusion of Section 2201 (Action on applications to export liquefied natural gas) and Section 2202 (Public disclosure of liquefied natural gas export destinations) in the bipartisan legislative proposal. We believe that the passage of this legislation will help to accelerate the creation of a thriving domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry by providing greater certainty to the export permit review process.

To whom it may concern: The American Petroleum Institute (API), the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC), the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA), and the US Oil and Gas Association respectfully submit the following comments on the proposed regulatory changes to Blowout Prevention Systems and Well Control requirements in 30 C.F.R. part 250. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced these proposed changes on April 17, 2015, in a notice of proposed rulemaking entitled, “Oil and Gas and Sulphur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf—Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control.”

We believe that EPA’s analysis is flawed and fails to realistically undertake its responsibilities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to create ELGs that meet not only current circumstances but future needs as well. Consequently, we recommend that EPA withdraw the current proposed pretreatment ELG for UOG extraction waste water, that it conduct a thorough review of actual waste water management technologies, that it determine best available technology economically achievable and new source performance standards based on these technologies, and that it then repropose an appropriately revised pretreatment ELG.

As you know, on May 26, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a Notice of Intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) to evaluate the potential impacts of a proposal to authorize incidental take of migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This letter is to request a 90-day extension in the formal regulatory comment period.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) are filing these comments to further demonstrate, based on the new explanatory information about the treatment of timber harvesting, that the record compiled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) does not support disparate treatment of timber harvesting and oil and gas activities. As shown below, there is no rational basis for the distinction that FWS attempts to draw between these two types of activities in terms of their potential impact on NLEB habitat. Accordingly, IPAA and API renew their request that the final 4(d) rule for the NLEB exempt oil and gas activities from the prohibition against incidental take. A failure to do so will impose unnecessary and costly burdens on the oil and gas industry and FWS itself and will not result in a measurable conservation benefit for the NLEB.

Dear Mr. President: This week you are scheduled to address the nation’s mayors—the lawmakers responsible for the economic prosperity and development in cities across the country. As you do, the undersigned organizations, representing a broad spectrum of the economy, write to express our deep concern with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule to lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone. In September 2011, you instructed the Administrator of the EPA to withdraw the-then pending ground-level ozone rule, citing the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainties as the economy struggled to recover from recession. The concerns you identified in 2011 still very much persist for our organizations today and we fear that the costs, delays and barriers to growth associated with a new ozone rule will have a severely negative impact on the U.S. economy, our international competitiveness and jobs.

Dear Senator Lee, We are writing to express our support for your amendment (# 1687) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) regarding the status of the Greater Sage-Grouse and Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The amendment would protect the ability of the Armed Forces to utilize their training facilities while preserving the appropriate state lead role in conserving the two species.

Dear Chairman Bay: The Natural Gas Council, in conjunction with other gas industry participants, would like to thank you, each of the Commissioners, as well as the Commission staff for the hard work and thoughtful consideration expended over the past four years to achieve better coordination between the natural gas and power industries. Your efforts and encouragement have resulted in some very positive developments including, among other things, clarity on the permissibility of non-public operational pipeline/electric transmission operator communications, increased focus on regional fuel assurance efforts, as well as an improved and more flexible gas scheduling timeline recently adopted in Order No. 809. When fully implemented, this new gas scheduling timeline, along with changes in Section 206 filings by ISOs and RTOs to conform to the new gas scheduling timeline, should provide increased opportunities for power generators to participate in the gas scheduling timeline to ensure more reliable fuel supplies.

Dear Senator Cornyn, We write to express our support for S. 293, a bill to amend the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 to establish a procedure for the approval of certain settlements.