ENV-13-19 Flaring Enforcement: Understanding Agency Priorities and Potential Outcomes

Description:

Flare operation and efficiency are currently the subject of an enforcement initiative by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). Beginning with a consent decree against a chemical plant in Ohio in 2009,1 moving to information requests about flare operations under Section 114 of the Clean Air Act, through a general enforcement alert to industry in 2012,2 up to the present, flare operations at refineries and chemical plants are under heightened scrutiny. This paper outlines the allegations the agency has made against flare operators, provides an overview of potential responses to such allegations, and provides potential alternative outcomes to the parameter-based remedies EPA has sought to date.