On Tuesday, June 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published its 6/28/16 EPA Final Rule (81 Fed. Reg. 41845) that prohibits the discharge of onshore “unconventional oil and gas” (UOG) wastewaters to publically owned treatment works (POTWs), effective August 29, 2016, per changes to 40 CFR §435.33 & §435.34.

The problem is that a number of formations and wells our industry considers “conventional” are considered “unconventional” in this Final Rule and therefore erroneously subject to EPA’s new “zero discharge” rule – and we must try to correct this.

We strongly urge you to read PIOGA’s Action Alert now to learn more about the rule and how we can attempt to have the EPA modify it to apply only to wells producing from what are widely considered to be unconventional formations.