Offshore Oil Rigs Come Under Tougher Anti-Pollution Rules

Tough new anti-pollution requirements for oil and gas platforms in the ocean off California and nationwide were put into effect Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The regulations, which impose the same air pollution controls on offshore oil rigs as those found onshore, are the first to be put into force under the federal Clean Air Act since it was strengthened in 1990.

“Today’s rule . . . will ensure that offshore sources cut air pollution onshore, thereby helping deliver the environmental and health benefits of the 1990 Clean Air Act,” EPA Administrator William K. Reilly said in a statement released in Washington.

The rule--nine months behind schedule--not only will cut smog that blows onshore, but remove a bone of contention between regional air quality authorities and the federal government.

Regional officials have long complained that while the EPA has required them to meet federal clean air standards onshore, the federal department regulating offshore emissions--the Interior Department--has made that difficult by exempting offshore oil and gas platforms from tougher controls.

Last May, a suit charging failure to issue the rule was filed against the EPA by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District and the Environmental Defense Center of Santa Barbara. The Clean Air Act required the rule by last Nov. 15.

The EPA said Monday that the delay was because of extended public hearings. “We really went out of the way to get as much public comment as possible--out of the normal limits--and that slowed it down,” EPA spokesman Dave Ryan said.

The new rule will cover all oil and gas rigs and drilling ships off the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts of the United States, and the Gulf Coast off Florida. Exempted are the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Most of the oil-rich Gulf Coast was excluded from the new regulations because of lobbying by petroleum interests. But an emissions impact study must be done for that region by Nov. 15, 1993. The study could result in tougher controls there. Some 23 oil and gas platforms off Southern California will be affected. Within two years, the regulation is expected to reduce the amount of smog-forming volatile organic compounds emitted off Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties by more than 620 tons annually, the EPA said. About 750 tons per year of nitrogen dioxide also will be cut.

The AQMD said that until an inventory is made of the equipment on offshore rigs, an accurate prediction of emission reductions will not be possible.

The cost of complying with the rule for all outer continental shelf polluters nationwide will be $5 million in 1994, the EPA said.

All new offshore emission sources must comply with the rule immediately. Existing pollution sources have two years to comply. The rule covers any offshore source within 25 miles of a state’s seaward boundary.