Methane Super Emitter Program

The Methane Super Emitter Program was established in the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines to reduce emissions of methane and other harmful air pollution from oil and natural gas operations. That rulemaking contains measures to reduce air pollution from the oil and natural gas industry, including limiting emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as well as volatile organic compounds. Together with other EPA actions, that rulemaking supports the United States’ efforts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change. The Super Emitter Program leverages third-party expertise and technology to quickly identify large methane leaks and inform oil and gas owners and operators so that necessary corrections can be made.

The Super Emitter Program is designed to provide a transparent, reliable, and efficient mechanism by which the EPA will provide oil and gas owners and operators with timely notifications of super-emitter events. Super emitter events are large leaks or releases of methane located at or near an oil and natural gas facility with an emission rate of 100 kilograms per hour of methane or greater, as measured by certified third parties using EPA-approved remote sensing technology. Owners/operators of facilities who receive notifications from the EPA, depending on the applicability of the source, are required to conduct a series of investigations, report to the EPA about the results of the investigation and, if necessary, repair any leaks covered by certain EPA standards. As described below, the notifications and the owner/operator responses are posted in the Data Explorer.

The following is a general overview of the program:  

1. Third parties apply for certification to submit data they have collected about potential super emitter events using EPA-approved remote-sensing technology (e.g., satellites, aerial vehicles, and mobile monitoring). If the third party is certified, they may submit to the EPA notifications that contain specified information on methane releases. The notification must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the date the release event is detected. [More information is available on the Certified Third-Party Notifier Webpage.]
2. EPA will review the submission for completeness and accuracy. If EPA determines that the submission is complete and does not contain information that it finds to be inaccurate to a reasonable degree of certainty, EPA will:
   1. Assign the notification a unique identification number,
   2. Provide the notification to the owner or operator, and
   3. Post the notification, except for the owner/operator attribution, on EPA’s Super Emitter Program webpage.
3. After owners/operators are notified, they must:
   1. initiate the required investigations within five calendar days of receiving a notification from EPA,
   2. complete the required investigation and report the findings to EPA within 15 days, 
   3. maintain records of super-emitter event investigations, and  
   4. when an emission event is ongoing at the time of the initial reporting deadline, update this initial report with the end date and time of the report within 5 business days of the date event ends. 

   The report submitted to EPA must follow requirements described in the rule.  More information is available on the Owner/ Operator Webpage.

4. The EPA will initially make the notifications public without attribution to any owner/operator on the Data Explorer webpage. When the EPA receives the owner/operator submitted reports, they will be added to the web page along with confirmation of owner/operator attribution. If an owner/operator report is not submitted by the deadline, the EPA intends to post owner/operator attributions that the agency reasonably believes to be accurate. The Data Explorer is available here.

Please refer to the following sections of 40 C.F.R. part 60 as applicable for additional details on the various components of the Methane Super Emitter Program:

40 C.F.R. part 60 subpart OOOO, OOOOa, or OOOOb: 

• Sections 60.5371 and 60.5371a - What standards apply to super-emitter events? 
• Section 60.5371b - What GHG and VOC standards apply to super-emitter events?  and 

40 C.F.R. part 60 subpart OOOOc (emission guidelines for development, submission, and implementation of State and tribal plans): 

• Section 60.5388c - What standards apply to super-emitter events? (model rule provision that states and tribes could include in their plans)

For additional information on the state planning process, please refer to Summary of Requirements for Clean Air Act Section 111(d) State Plans Crude Oil and Natural Gas Source Category: Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources 40 CFR Part 60 Subpart OOOOc