Oil & Gas NPDES Permits
EPA regulates discharges associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities on the outer continental shelf (OCS) under the Clean Water Act's (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program.
EPA Region 4 issues individual and general permits covering facilities that discharge beyond the offshore three-mile limit defining territorial seas in the Eastern Planning Area and in the Mobile and Viosca Knoll Blocks of the Central Planning Area. The issued permits meet all CWA requirements, as well as EPA's guidelines for determining the degradation of marine waters (Ocean Discharge Criteria Evaluation). New source discharges are subject to environmental review provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
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Oil and Gas Final General Permit -
Eastern Portion of the Outer Continental Shelf
The final NPDES general permit for existing and new source discharges in the Eastern Portion of the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, GMG460000 (PDF) (138 pp, 264K), was issued on December 9, 2004. This permit expires on December 31, 2009. The permit applies to operators of leases seaward of the 200 meter water depth for offshore Alabama and Florida in the Eastern Planning Area and offshore Mississippi and Alabama in the Mobile and Viosca Knoll lease blocks in the Central Planning Area.
Additional Information
- Fact Sheet (PDF) (58 pp, 117KB)
- Amendment to Fact Sheet at the Time of Final Permit Issuance (32 pp, 194K)
- EPA Region 4-approved Optional DMR Form - Version 2 (Excel, 12 pp, 116K) Operators may use EPA Region 4's optional Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR). Alternatively, operators may use DMR form ( EPA Form No. 3320-1).
- Optional DMR Instruction Sheet - Version 2.0 (PDF) (4 pp, 15K) and Sample Optional DMR (PDF) (2 pp, 186K)
- Region 4 Transfer of General Permit Coverage Agreement Form (PDF) (2 pp, 23K)
- Synthetic-Based Drilling Fluids (SBF) Effluent Limitation Guidelines
- Request FOIA Information
Contact Information
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4
Water Protection Division
Pollution Control and Implementation Branch
Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 4
Water Protection Division
Clean Water Enforcement Branch
Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Karrie-Jo Robinson-Shell (shell.karrie-jo@epa.gov)For enforcement questions, please contact:
(404) 562-9308
Mary Halback (halback.mary@epa.gov)
(404) 562-9778
For Discharge Monitoring Report questions, please contact:;
Mike Donehoo(donehoo.mike@epa.gov)
(404) 562-9745