Environmental Monitoring

Water Quality Sampling

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act, CWA) provides the basic structure for regulating the discharge of pollutants into our Nation’s waters. The CWA gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to set effluent standards for all point-source industries, including the offshore oil and gas extraction industry. It is unlawful to discharge any pollutants unless a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit is obtained from the EPA.

The Pacific Region works with the EPA and offshore oil & gas operators to ensure water quality requirements are met. In November 1989, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between EPA, Region IX and the BOEMRE Pacific Region authorizing BOEMRE to perform inspection and sampling at Pacific Region oil and gas facilities on behalf of EPA. The number of inspections and number and locations of sampling are determined annually between the EPA and the Pacific Region. The coordination of the field effort is carried out by the Environmental Liaisons within the BOEMRE Pacific Region Office of Environmental Evaluation. As part of the agreement, BOEMRE takes toxicity samples at each discharging platform twice per year and inspects records at all the Pacific Region platforms at least once per year. In addition, BOEMRE collects chemistry samples at 5 to 12 discharging platforms once per year. BOEMRE inspectors may issue Incidents of Non-Compliance (INC’s) according to BOEMRE regulations but do not directly enforce EPA’s regulations.