O&G Emissions Inventory Project: ND-SD-MT Williston and MT North Central (Great Plains) Basins

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Montana-Dakotas Office sponsored development of an oil and gas (O&G) emissions inventory for the Williston Basin in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, and the Montana North Central (Great Plains) Basin. The WRAP, with expert contractor assistance, built and reported the inventory using the Phase III methodology employed in large active basins in the intermountain West. The result is an accurate, comprehensive criteria pollutant inventory of actual emissions for most major point and area sources associated with exploration and production of O&G in the two Basins for the base year 2011, as well as for the mid-term projection year of 2015. One benefit of the project is development of a more accurate regional O&G emission inventory data based on input from knowledgeable sources. The project also contributes to regional air quality modeling efforts and streamlines future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews by reducing the need for project-specific modeling.

Contact Lee Gribovicz for more information: E-Mail [email protected], Phone: (623) 312-2962.

Project Overview (February 27, 2013) PDF

Project Results presentation (PDF) for Sept. 3, 2014 WRAP Oil & Gas Workgroup call

Basin Specific Reports: These Technical Memos contain a description of the sources included in each inventory, the data collection methodology, the inventory preparation procedures and summary tables of the results. The Data Summary spreadsheets contain the summary emissions inventory data itself, including the detailed county-level emissions, emissions by source category and by SCC, permitted and unpermitted emissions if available, and tables and charts of the emissions in similar format to those presented in the report documentation for each basin.

• Great Plains Basin
  • 2011 Baseline and 2015 Projection Technical Memo – August 2014 (PDF)
  • 2011 Baseline Data Summary Spreadsheet – August 2014 (XLSX)
  • 2015 Projection Data Summary Spreadsheet – August 2014 (XLSX)
• Williston Basin
  • 2011 Baseline and 2015 Projection Technical Memo – August 2014 (PDF)
  • 2011 Baseline Data Summary Spreadsheet – August 2014 (XLSX)
  • 2015 Projection Data Summary Spreadsheet – August 2014 (XLSX)

Revised Williston and Great Plains Basin Project Schedule (May 19, 2014): After completing the initial Williston and Great Plains inventory drafts at the beginning of 2014, comments revealed that there was additional tribal source well data available from EPA as compiled from their “Minor Source” permitting program under a Federal Implementation Plan known as “Review of New Sources and Modifications in Indian Country”. In discussions with the BLM, it was decided that it would be advantageous to analyze this minor source Tribal data for possible inclusion in the inventories. Review showed that this Tribal minor source data proved useful so the data was incorporated as documented as an Appendix of the Technical Memo results for the final 2011 and 2015 Williston and Great Plains Basins inventories. Although accurate in their project descriptions, the February 27, 2013 Project Overview and Technical Approach documents posted here have schedules that went out of date with the project scope enhancements brought about by the review of Tribal data. Consequently we have posted the final project schedule here. (May 19, 2014 Revised Schedule for MT-DK Project PDF)

Williston Projection Meeting Presentation: The meeting was held Tuesday April 16, 2013 at 1600 Broadway, downtown Denver, Colorado.


Sample Survey Questionnaires:

1. Williston Basin Survey Form (March 11, 2013): XLSX (1 MB)
2. Montana Great Plains Survey Form (March 11, 2013): XLSX (1 MB)

Williston and Great Plains Basins’ O&G 2011 and projection year Emission Inventory Technical Approach and Schedule (February 27, 2013) PDF

Federal Inter-Agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for federal Oil & Gas decisions through the NEPA process (June 2011) PDF