Drill Rig Study

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Drill Rig 1-hour NO2 Collaborative Monitoring Study

The purpose of this Study was to collect ambient measurements adjacent to operating drilling rigs to evaluate actual 1-hour NO2 impacts from drilling operations. In addition, sufficient data would be collected regarding emissions from drilling operations that could be used to verify NO2 air quality models. The Study was designed to focus on short term episodes as opposed to a long term monitoring program. Long term monitoring is not practical because of the short duration that a drilling rig is at a single location (less than 30 days).

The data were collected during two field studies in the fall of 2014. One field study was conducted at two drill rigs near Platteville, CO (in the Denver-Julesburg Basin), and the other was conducted on the north slope of Alaska. Two work groups were formed to review and analyze the study data. The Alaska Work Group is to review and analyze the Alaska data, while the Colorado Work Group has reviewed and analyzed the Colorado data and their Technical Support Document is linked below.

  • Study Organization call – November 2013 (PDF)
  • Company Assistance Needed for Ambient Air Quality NO2 Drill Rig Field Study Program – May 2014 (PDF)
  • Drill Rig 1-hour NO2 Emissions and Air Quality Study Outreach - May 2014 (PDF)
  • Collaborative Drill Rig 1-hour NO2 Impacts Study presentation – EPA/State/Local Modelers Meeting – May 2014 (PPTX)
  • WESTAR RFP #2014-01 for Drill Rig NO2 Monitoring Project – June 20, 2014 (PDF)
    • Questions and answers from pre-proposal call about WESTAR RFP #2014-01 – June 28, 2014 (PDF)
  • Alaska Field Study Design - Drill Rig 1-Hour NO2 Collaborative Study - August 2014 (PDF)
    • Alaska Field Study Status Report – December 2014 (PDF)
    • Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation Review of Alaska Study CEMS data - October 28, 2015 (PDF)
    • Contractor Review and Analysis of AK Data Set - May 3, 2016 (PDF)
      • Responses to Comments - May 3, 2016 (PDF)
  • Denver-Julesburg Field Study Status Report – December 2014 (PPTX)
    • Denver-Julesburg Field Study Quality Assurance Project Plan - October 2014 (finalized April 2015) (PDF)
    • Denver-Julesburg Field Study Contractor Report - revised August 2015 (PDF)
    • Contractor Report on Data Review - July 2015 (PDF)
  • Study Summary Report May 10, 2016 (PDF)
  • Drill Rig Study Model Evaluation Workgroup
    • Kick-off Meeting; RTP, NC - August 14, 2015
      • Meeting Agenda (PDF)
      • Summary of CO Field Study (PPTX)
      • Summary of Alaska Field Study (PPTX)
      • Summary of Contractor Report on Data Review (PPTX)
      • Suggested Analyses of CO and AK drill rig data (PPTX)
      • Meeting Summary (PDF)
    • Summary of September 3, 2015 Workgroup Conference Call (PDF)
    • Summary of October 8, 2015 Workgroup Conference Call (PDF)
    • Notes of December 20, 2017 Study Management Team Call (PDF)
    • Notes of February 20, 2018 Study Management Team Call (PDF)
    • Notes of March 22, 2018 Study Management Team Call (PDF)
    • Notes of February 6, 2019 Study Management Team Call (PDF)
  • 2014 Colorado Oil and Gas Drill Rig Field Study Model Evaluation Database - Technical Support Document - August 2020
  • EPA SCRAM link for AERMOD Evaluation Databases Denver-Julesburg Study (ZIP) (108 MB, August 18, 2020)