American Petroleum Institute

Environmental Guidance Document: Release Reporting for the Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Industry as Required by the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act - Second Edition
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Annotation

This document has been developed to provide the oil and gas production industry guidance on reporting releases of hazardous substances and petroleum to water as required by the Clean Water Act (CWA) and reporting releases of hazardous substances into the environment as required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). This document only covers federal requirements for release reporting under the CWA, CERCLA and EPCRA. There are other federal, state, and local laws with spill or release reporting requirements. It is important to understand that compliance with federal reporting requirements does not necessarily satisfy state or local reporting requirements and vice versa.

The document covers the reporting of what most in the industry consider "emergency" releases, which are unplanned and typically are not covered under a permit issued by a government agency. These releases may be to the air, to the ground (and potentially groundwater), to a storm water drainage system, to a waste water system which discharges into a publicly owned treatment works, to traditionally navigable waters or to any other body of water. This document addresses permit exceedances only to the extent that the exceedances are in excess of an established reportable quantity. Releases exceeding permit stipulations, but not meeting an established reportable quantity, may be reportable under other state and federal regulations outside the scope of the CWA, CERCLA and EPCRA.

In preparing the document, API recognized the complexity of the reporting requirements and chose a format to help the user through the various steps associated with deciding what and when to report. The heart of the document is Section 3, which consists of several flowcharts that address the numerous exemptions and requirements of the regulations. The flowcharts were developed with the understanding that the user would have some basic knowledge of the various reporting requirements.