Q735. Why did EPA require that facilities conducting onshore petroleum and natural gas production report by basin?

A735. When the GHGRP requirements for onshore petroleum and natural gas production were proposed, EPA’s goal was to provide a facility definition that all producers could directly apply, and that would be both practical and cost-effective.  EPA sought public comment on a range of possible options for defining the facility that would report with respect to onshore petroleum and natural gas production, ranging from defining the facility at the individual well pad, to defining the facility at the field-level, to defining the facility at the basin-level.  Taking into account public comment, EPA finalized the definition of facility with respect to onshore petroleum and natural gas production using a basin-level approach because the operational boundaries and basin demarcations are clearly defined and are widely known, and the approach covered most emissions from onshore petroleum and natural gas production.