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Fall 2016 Regulatory Agenda Released
Michael K. Reer

Last week, the U.S. General Services Administration released the Fall 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.  The Unified Agenda is released twice yearly, and lists the status of major rule proposals, including those with the potential to affect oil and natural gas development operations.

In particular, operators might be interested in the following rule proposals.  After each proposal, the anticipated release date of the final rule is listed.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

  • National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Application and Program Updates Rule (final in August 2016)
  • Toxics Release Inventory (TRI); Addition of Natural Gas Processing Facilities (final in August 2018)
  • Modernization of the Accidental Release Prevention Regulations Under Clean Air Act (final in December 2016)

Bureau of Land Management

  • Onshore Oil and Gas Order 1:  Approval of Operations (final in November 2016)
  • Onshore Oil and Gas Order 3:  Site Security on Federal and Indian Oil and Gas Leases (final in November 2016)
  • Onshore Oil and Gas Order 4:  Oil Measurement (final in November 2016)
  • Onshore Oil and Gas Order 5:  Gas Measurement (final in November 2016)
  • Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation (final in November 2016)
  • Non-Federal Oil and Gas Rights (final in December 2016)
  • Oil Shale Management (final in February 2017)