Gov. Doug Burgum today released the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency announced its proposal to update air regulations for the oil and gas industry.
“North Dakota has some of the nation’s cleanest air, and we’re proud of our own air pollution control rules that have substantially reduced emissions from all phases of oil development, including wellheads, transmission and gas processing,” Burgum said. “As the nation’s No. 2 oil producing state, we’ll continue to control methane emissions and work diligently with industry to find solutions to methane challenges, regardless of what happens with these duplicative and costly federal regulations.”
Earlier this year, the state Legislature approved the governor’s recommendation to direct the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality to achieve state primacy of the federal 0000 air quality program, commonly referred to as “Quad-O”. This required DEQ to add two employees in the first year of the current 2019-21 biennium and eight employees in the second year, enhancing North Dakota’s ability to protect its air quality.