In addition to curating engaging content and events for our members and full-time legislative representation, it’s also been a very busy year in the regulatory arena. While this isn’t a comprehensive list of all the rulemakings we’ve engaged in this year, we wanted to highlight a few of the Utah-specific rules that we have been heavily engaged in, ensuring that the state remains balanced and business friendly. UPA also engages in federal rules (most often with BLM and EPA) and partners with other regional and national trades. We hope this gives you (and prospective members!) a more holistic understanding of who we are, what we do and how we are laser-focused on policy and regulation to keep Utah, well, Utah! 

Duchesne County 

• Ordinance 24-409 Oil and Gas Zoning Amendments: UPA has been discussing the need for operators to support the county on road repair and maintenance resulting from industry wear and tear for at least two years, and this spring, we entered into more focused negotiations with the county on an ordinance that would create a Conditional Use Permit. Notice provisions to impacted owners and other conditions (many of which were already included in the county Master Transportation Plan) for oil and gas drilling and production sites will be required prior to new sites being permitted by the county. The county also intends to establish a Transportation Mitigation Fee, and UPA has been very actively engaged in working with the county and their consultants to advocate that the fee is used only for industry roads and at a rate that supports industry-related repair and maintenance needs. As of the time of writing, negotiations on the Transportation Mitigation Fee are ongoing.
• Ordinance 24-407 Flare Gas Power Generation: Duchesne County passed this ordinance setting out site location and layout requirements as well as ambient noise and vibration limits and mitigation requirements for flare gas power generation facilities. UPA engaged closely with producers and the county to address concerns of neighbors near these facilities, while ensuring restrictions were achievable for industry.
• Ordinance 24-414 Roosevelt Airport Overlay Zone: Duchesne County passed this ordinance (and we expect the Roosevelt and Vernal airports to take up this issue soon) in order to comply with legislation passed in the 2024 session affecting all airports in the state. Six airport protection zones were enacted, some of which directly conflicted with existing oil and gas facilities and/or interests, and a list of restricted activities was compiled for each overlay zone. UPA supported producers working with the county to ensure that as long as the activities either do not exceeded the FAA Notice Criteria or the FAA has issued a Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation, oil and gas activities could continue in these overlay areas.

Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining

• Bonding Rule: Currently being drafted by the Division and has not yet started the formal rulemaking process (as of the time of writing). The rule will make multiple changes to definitions, how a change of operator is addressed, bond releases, and the overall bonding structure and fees. The rule sets out a new framework for calculating an “at-risk well ratio” based on an operator’s total amount of production, the number of active wells in the state and the number of “at-risk wells” and then applies a tiered bonding schedule based on the number of state wells and number and depth of “at-risk” wells. If it sounds complicated, well, it is! But the hope by the division and the industry is that it more accurately evaluates an individual operator’s risk and, therefore, the amount of financial assurance they should provide to the state while also allowing for flexibility by “bucketing” wells in groups of 10 to limit the amount of bonding adjustments industry and the division need to administer.
• Water Recycling: R649-9 is anticipated to be proposed to the board for the start of formal rulemaking in December. While oil and gas wastes are now the jurisdiction of WMRC (see more below), water recycling facilities are regulated by DOGM following the passage of HB 295 (Lund, 2024). This bill was UPA’s priority during the 2024 session, and we remained closely engaged and supportive of these rules, which define produced water and related facilities and include extensive criteria for how these facilities must be sited, designed, constructed and operated.
• DOGM Class VI Carbon Sequestration Rule: The division is currently drafting this rule and has undertaken a robust stakeholder engagement process. Following legislation directing the division to seek primacy and setting out basic scaffolding in Utah’s 2022 session, DOGM is preparing a rule and primacy application to EPA for geologic carbon storage. UPA is engaging in this rulemaking to provide a third-party legal review focused on potential implications on minerals and oil and gas operations.
• The Board of Oil, Gas and Mining (BOGM) has started drafting rules regarding how notices of opportunity to participate (related to forced pooling) shall be handled. This rule is still in the drafting phase, and UPA has provided feedback focused on ensuring landowners receive appropriate information but that private negotiation and contract terms between the operator and the mineral owner remain private and are not regulated by the Board.

Utah Department of Air Quality

• Low Vapor Pressure Gasoline: Rule apparently not going forward.
  • If written and adopted, this rule would have required early sales of low RVP gasoline, probably 7.4 psi, in the NWF.
  • The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires reformulated gas (RFG) at 7.4 psi RVP one year after an ozone nonattainment area bumps up to severe nonattainment. We project RFG to be required for the summer gasoline season in 2029. If UDAQ pursued their consideration of adopting a low RVP requirement now, then 7.4 psi RVP would be required years earlier.
  • UPA prepared a white paper to educate UDAQ on the ramifications and difficulties of converting to low RVP gasoline on an earlier schedule.
• Boiler Rule changes (NOx Emission Controls for Natural Gas-Fired Boilers Greater Than 5.0 MMBtu): Final rule.
  • The boiler rule regulates boilers fired by natural gas in the five counties of the NWF and SWF.
  • UPA engaged heavily in this rule in 2022 and 2023 when it was finalized and again in 2024 when UDAQ made some changes.
  • UPA advocacy and written comments resulted in the removal of some problematic definitions and raising the CO limit to match the limit elsewhere outside of Utah.
  • Although the rule does not apply to the refineries because they use process gas rather than natural gas, UDAQ is contemplating adopting parts of this rule in changes for refinery NOx controls in the Serious PM2.5 SIP.
• Serious PM2.5 State Implementation Plan (SIP): Proposed rule on hold by EPA until UDAQ resolves some EPA concerns with refinery emission limits.
  • The Salt Lake City PM2.5 nonattainment area (SLC) measured attainment several years ago, and EPA published a final DAAD in late 2020.
  • EPA also published a proposed redesignation to attainment in late 2020. Based on comments received, EPA expressed concerns about refinery limits for some emissions.
  • UPA and its member company refineries have engaged in several discussions with UDAQ to understand EPA concerns, have provided extensive additional data, and are continuing the dialogue toward updating the Serious PM2.5 SIP.
• Moderate Ozone SIP for the NWF: Revision of the Final SIP to address the required 15% reduction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).
  • The CAA requires that a Moderate ozone nonattainment area reduce VOC emissions by 15%. This must only be done once, on the first Moderate ozone SIP for an area.
  • The NWF does not have a prior approved 15% reduction, but the area did reduce VOC by more than 15% for the Moderate PM2.5 SIP.
  • UDAQ proposed a change to the moderate SIP already submitted to EPA in order to rely on the VOC reductions under the Moderate PM2.5 SIP. If approved by EPA, this will allow UDAQ to substitute NOx reductions in place of some of the required VOC reductions to meet the CAA requirement for emissions reductions at Moderate.
  • UPA submitted comments to UDAQ in support of the SIP change with suggestions to strengthen it. The SIP change will be considered by the Air Quality Board for approval to submit to EPA in November.
• Serious Ozone SIP for the NWF: Preparing to draft rule changes.
  • UPA has engaged in dialogue with UDAQ to understand their path forward and to provide suggestions. We will remain engaged through SIP development over the next year.
• UDAQ Rulemaking to Adopt EPA Emissions Guidelines OOOOc: Preparing to draft rules.
  • UPA is engaging with UDAQ to discuss areas of potential interest or concern in the rulemaking. After stakeholder meetings in October and November, UPA will submit written comments before the end of the year.
• Lawn & Garden Rule: Proposed rule never put out for comment.
  • The Lawn & Garden rule could fulfill a significant portion of the required 15% VOC reduction for the Moderate ozone SIP for the NWF at a cost-effective dollar per ton of emissions reduced.
  • Some of the state’s leadership have expressed concerns about the rule, and UDAQ has not finalized the proposal at the Air Quality Board.
  • UPA has engaged in discussions to help education as to the need for this rule and the relatively low cost on a dollar per ton basis compared to other possible ways to get the same reductions. UDAQ has also kept this rule in their list of coming ozone serious SIP rules.

Others

• Extension of the Attainment Date and Determination of Attainment by the Attainment Date of the Uinta Basin Marginal Nonattainment Area Under the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards: Proposed rule comment period closed.
  • Although not a UDAQ rule, this rulemaking would only apply for the Uinta Basin ozone nonattainment area (UB).
  • This rulemaking would approve the second extension to the Marginal attainment date and thus allow EPA to complete a determination of attainment by attainment date (DAAD).
  • The effect of a final DAAD would be to hold the UB at Marginal nonattainment and allow UDAQ to pursue a maintenance plan and redesignation to attainment.
  • UPA submitted written comments to EPA in support of the DAAD and is awaiting a final decision from EPA.
• DEQ Waste Management and Radiation Control Division (WMRC) in October finalized a rule regulating the disposal of all oil and gas wastes. In 2018 the EPA notified the state that it had to change its definition of Solid Waste (which ironically includes predominately liquid wastes), and this triggered the need for oil and gas industry wastes to be regulated by DEQ rather than DOGM based on the state’s primacy status. This rule has taken several years to materialize and includes a number of changes, the most contentious was whether waste disposal cells for oil and gas wastes were required to have liners. UPA and other industry members advocated that liners should be required unless proven unnecessary on a site-specific basis, but the rule was ultimately approved without requiring liners. Going forward, WMRC will require land farms to convert to landfills and will be the regulator in charge of oil and gas waste disposal.