Review of State Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations

The State Review Process is a multi-stakeholder process administered by the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER), Inc. and is a continuation of work initiated by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) in 1989. The goal of the process is to assist oil and gas producing states in identifying innovative regulatory approaches to reducing environmental and administrative problems associated with the management of oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry wastes and to comprehensively assess and improve implementation and enforcement of state regulatory programs. The process consists of initial reviews of states E&P waste management regulatory programs by multi-stakeholder review teams and follow-up reviews to assess states responses to the initial review teams recommendations. Participation of citizens groups and environmental organizations in the state review process is encouraged and environmental training seminars are provided to citizens groups and others who are concerned about E&P waste management practices and interested in participating in state reviews. To date, 20 state programs have been reviewed and nine of these states have had follow-up reviews. The state review process has resulted in significant improvement to states E&P waste management regulatory programs and increased benefits to human healthmore » and the environment.« less