The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, requests that the Department of Justice (DOJ) seek injunctive relief and penalties against defendant, XTO Energy Inc. (XTO), at its oil and gas tank batteries located in North Dakota for violations of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation1 (FBIR) Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) and the North Dakota Air Pollution Control Rules 33-15-07-02, as incorporated into the EPA-approved North Dakota State Implementation Plan (SIP). XTO owns and operates 821 oil and natural gas wells, and associated tank batteries, on state and tribal land in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. Approximately 69 of those oil and natural gas wells are located on the FBIR and are subject to the FBIR FIP. For those 752 oil and gas operations off the FBIR, the North Dakota SIP applies.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) settled with Houston-based XTO Energy Inc., resolving alleged Clean Air Act violations stemming from the company?s oil and gas production operations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The settlement resolves claims that XTO failed to adequately design, operate, and maintain vapor control systems on its storage tanks at oil and natural gas well pads, resulting in emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).