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Oil & Gas NPDES Permits
EPA regulates discharges associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities on the outer continental shelf (OCS) under the Clean Water Act's (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program.
EPA Region 4 issues individual and general permits covering facilities that discharge in water depths seaward of 200 meters occurring offshore the coasts of Alabama and Florida. The western boundary of the coverage area is demarcated by Mobile and Viscoa Knoll lease blocks located seaward of the boundary of the territorial seas from the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama. The issued permits meet all CWA requirements, as well as EPA's guidelines for determining the degradation of marine waters (Ocean Discharge Criteria Evaluation). New source discharges are subject to environmental review provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Maps:
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Oil and Gas Final General Permit - Issued March 15, 2010 expiring March 31, 2015
Eastern Portion of the Outer Continental Shelf
The final NPDES general permit for existing and new source discharges in the Eastern Portion of the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, GEG460000 (PDF) ( pp178, 1.6M), was issued on March 15, 2010. This permit expires on March 31, 2015. The permit applies to operators of leases seaward of the 200 meter water depth for offshore Alabama and Florida in the Eastern Planning Area and offshore Mississippi and Alabama in the Mobile and Viosca Knoll lease blocks in the Central Planning Area.
Additional Information
- Amendment to Fact Sheet at the Time of Final Permit Issuance (PDF) (10 pp, 161.1K)
- EPA Region 4-approved Optional DMR Form - Version 4.2 (Excel, 12 pp, 122K) Operators may use EPA Region 4's optional Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR). Alternatively, operators may use DMR form ( EPA Form No. 3320-1 (PDF) (4 pp, 188.95K)).
- Optional DMR Instruction Sheet - Version 2.0 (PDF) (4 pp, 15K) and Sample Optional DMR (PDF) (2 pp, 186K)
- Region 4 Transfer of General Permit Coverage Agreement Form (PDF) (2 pp, 127.29K)
- Final Finding of No Significant Impact (PDF) (7 pp, 138.65K)
Oil and Gas Proposed NPDES General Permit No. GEG460000 Public Comment Period December 30, 2009 to January 29, 2010.
- Federal Register Notice for GEG460000 (PDF)(3 pp, 104KB)
- Draft Permit, GEG460000 (PDF)(186 pp, 1.04MB)
- Draft Permit Fact Sheet(PDF)(33 pp, 290KB)
- Environmental Assessment (PDF)(129 pp, 1.7MB)
- Ocean Criteria Determination Document (PDF)(183 pp, 1.8MB)
- Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (PDF)(7 pp, 193KB)
Contact Information
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4
Water Protection Division
Pollution Control and Implementation Branch
Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 4
Water Protection Division
Clean Water Enforcement Branch
Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Karrie-Jo Robinson-Shell (shell.karrie-jo@epa.gov)For enforcement questions, please contact:
(404) 562-9308
Mary Halback (halback.mary@epa.gov)For Discharge Monitoring Report questions, please contact:;
(404) 562-9778
Mike Donehoo(donehoo.mike@epa.gov)
(404) 562-9745