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Public Notice: McElmo Creek Unit Oil Production Facility; Draft Clean Air Act Minor New Source Review (NSR) and Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Permit

How to Comment

Comments accepted through: 03/09/2020

All written comments or requests for a public hearing must be received or postmarked by March 9, 2020. Comments may be submitted via the following methods:

Online
www.regulations.gov
Docket: EPA-R09-OAR-2019-0409

E-mail
R9airpermits@epa.gov

U.S. Mail
Shaheerah Kelly
Air and Radiation Division (AIR-3-1)
U.S. EPA Region 9
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

Any person may submit written comments on the draft permit and may request a public hearing during the public comment period. These comments must raise any reasonably ascertainable issue with supporting arguments by the close of the public comment period (including any public hearing). Please address comments with the subject “Comments on Draft Permit for McElmo Creek.”

All comments that are received via email or through www.regulations.gov will be included in the public docket without change and will be available to the public, including any personal information provided, within a few days of receipt. Comments submitted to EPA through U.S. Mail or other another non-electronic delivery method will also be included in the public docket without change and will be available to the public, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information the disclosure of which is restricted by statute. Information that is considered to be CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as such and should be submitted only through U.S. Mail or a non-electronic delivery method; such information should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. If a commenter sends e-mail directly to the EPA, the e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the public comment. Please note that an e-mail or postal address must be provided with comments if the commenter wishes to receive direct notification of the EPA’s final decision regarding the draft permit following the public comment period. For information about CBI or multimedia submissions and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit Commenting on EPA Dockets.

Related: Tribal New Source Review Actions in EPA's Pacific Southwest (Region 9)

Publish Date: 01/31/2020

Summary

Proposed Action

The United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 (EPA) is providing notice of and requesting public comment on the EPA’s proposed action relating to the draft Clean Air Act Minor New Source Review (NSR) and Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for the McElmo Creek Unit Oil Production Facility (MCU Facility or Source). The MCU Facility is an existing gas compression plant that is part of an oil and gas production operation and is located in Section 31, Township 40 South, Range 25 East within the Four Corners Area on the Navajo Nation Reservation near the town of Aneth, San Juan County, Utah. The MCU Facility is owned and operated by Elk Petroleum, Inc. (Elk Petroleum) in partnership with the Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company. The contact for the Source is David L. Koskella, Chief Operating Officer, (303) 861-6255.

The draft permit, if finalized, will authorize Elk Petroleum’s proposed compressor expansion project at the MCU Facility consistent with the Minor NSR regulations for Indian country (40 CFR 49.151-161). The compressor expansion project involves the construction and operation of four new electrically-driven compressors and a glycol dehydration unit (a glycol regenerator with a triethylene glycol reboiler and two associated contactor towers) at the MCU Facility. Elk Petroleum will also be replacing some existing pipelines and supplementing or rerouting others at the MCU Facility and another site called the Area 4 Battery.

The compressor expansion project is subject to review under the Minor NSR permit program because the project’s allowable emissions increase for volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions of 7.87 tons per year exceeds the Minor NSR threshold of 5 tons per year (emissions increases for all other relevant pollutants are below Minor NSR thresholds). Since the four new compressors will be electrically-driven and have no direct emissions, the increase in VOC emissions is mostly associated with the new glycol dehydration unit. The draft permit requires Elk Petroleum to route VOC emissions from the new glycol dehydration unit’s process vent to the existing Main Flare. Significantly, all the annual caps on allowable emissions for the Main Flare in the existing PSD permit will remain unchanged. Since EPA is also administratively amending the existing PSD permit to incorporate the proposed new equipment for the proposed compressor expansion project, the EPA’s proposed permit action is a combined PSD permit and Minor NSR permit. More information on the emission changes and limitations associated with this draft permit can be found in Section 6 of the technical support document for this action.

Draft Permit Review

A copy of the draft permit prepared by the EPA, the TSD for the draft permit, and all supporting materials are available for review by the public through the online docket, by contacting the permit writer at R9airpermits@epa.gov, or at the following locations:

  1. At the U.S. EPA Region 9 Office (address above-right), Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., excluding federal holidays. Due to building security procedures, please call Shaheerah Kelly (415) 947-4156 at least 48 hours in advance to arrange a visit.
  2. At the following local places:
  • Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency
    Air Quality Control/Operating Permit Program
    Bldg. # 2837, Route 112
    Fort Defiance, Arizona 86504
    Phone: (928) 729-4246
    Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM -4:00 PM, excluding holidays
  • Navajo Nation Aneth Chapter House
    HWY 162 E.
    Aneth, Utah 84510
    Phone: (435) 651-3525
    Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM -5:00 PM
  • Montezuma Creek Library
    5th East Street
    Montezuma Creek, Utah, 84534
    Phone: (435) 672-2274
    Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Noon-6:00 PM

Public Hearing

A public hearing has not been scheduled for the draft permit action. However, anyone may request a public hearing. Any request for a public hearing must be made in writing and state the nature of the issues proposed to be raised at the hearing.  EPA will hold a hearing whenever there is, on the basis of requests, a significant degree of public interest in a draft permit. EPA may also hold a public hearing at its discretion, whenever, for instance, such a hearing might clarify one or more issues involved in the permit decision. EPA will provide notice at least 30 days in advance of the date and time of any scheduled public hearing. The 30-day public comment period will be extended to the close of any public hearing on the MCU Facility.

Final Action

Before taking final action on the draft permit, EPA will consider all written comments submitted during the public comment period. EPA will send notice of our final permit decision to each person who submitted comments and contact information during the public comment period or requested notice of the final permit decision. EPA will summarize the contents of all substantive comments and provide written responses in a document accompanying the EPA’s final permit decision. The EPA’s final permit decision will become effective 30 days after the service of notice of the decision unless:

  1. A later effective date is specified in the permit
  2. The decision is appealed to the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) pursuant to 40 CFR 49.159(d); or
  3. There are no comments requesting a change to the draft permit decision, in which case the final decision shall become effective immediately upon issuance.

Appeals to the EAB

In accordance with 40 CFR 49.159, within 30 days after a final permit decision has been issued, any person who filed comments on the draft permit or participated in the public hearing may petition the EAB to review any condition of the permit decision. The 30-day period within which a person may request review under this section begins when the Region has fulfilled the notice requirements for the final permit decision. A petition to the EAB is, under section 307(b) of the Act, a prerequisite to seeking judicial review of the final agency action. For purposes of judicial review, final agency action occurs when EPA denies or issues a final permit and agency review procedures are exhausted.

Additional Information

If you have questions, or if you wish to obtain further information, please contact Shaheerah Kelly at (415) 947-4156, via email at R9airpermits@epa.gov, or at EPA's mailing address above. If you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive future information about this draft permit decision or other permit decisions issued by EPA Region 9 Office, please contact EPA at the address listed above or send an email to R9airpermits@epa.gov.

***Please bring the foregoing notice to the attention of all persons who would be interested in this matter.***

Applicant or Respondent

Elk Petroleum, Inc. in partnership with the Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company

Docket Number: 

Permit #: DRAFT PSD Permit NU 05-01