June 24, 2011
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released an interagency approach to address air quality issues associated with onshore oil and gas development on public lands.
A new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishes a common process for the agencies to follow in analyzing the potential air quality impacts of proposed oil and gas activities on federally managed public lands.
The agreement provides for early interagency consultation throughout the NEPA process; common procedures for determining what type of air quality analyses are appropriate and when air modeling is necessary; specific provisions for analyzing and discussing impacts to air quality and for mitigating such impacts; and a dispute resolution process to facilitate timely resolution of differences among agencies.
To view the MOU: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/nepa/index.html
More information about NEPA: http://epa.gov/compliance/nepa/index.html