Navajo Nation moves to take over air permits for small oil and gas operations
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The Navajo Nation is seeking federal approval to regulate air pollution from smaller oil and gas operations, a shift that would move permitting authority from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the tribe.
Stephen B. Etsitty, the executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, said the application for delegation of authority under the U.S. EPA’s Tribal Minor New Source Review program was finalized and submitted Aug. 5.
If approved, the Nation would assume oversight of smaller industrial sources across its lands, including permitting, inspections and compliance enforcement.
“We’re putting a minor source air-permitting program in place to protect all of the Navajo Nation, including Northern and Eastern Navajo agencies, from continued oil and gas development and other development that may end up emitting air pollutants,” Etsitty said.
The proposal is grounded in the Navajo Nation Clean Air Act, enacted in 1995, and Minor Source Program regulations passed last year by the Resources and Development Committee. Those rules give the tribe the authority to set and enforce air quality standards on Navajo land.
Currently, the EPA regulates minor sources in Indian Country – facilities such as gasoline dispensing facilities, oil and gas sites, rock-crushing operations, and mobile batch plants producing concrete and asphalt. Individually, they emit relatively small amounts of pollution, but the cumulative effect can be significant. Major sources, such as compressor stations along gas pipelines, diesel generators, and the Four Corners Power Plant, are already regulated under the Nation’s existing program for larger emitters.
To read the full article, please see the Aug. 14, 2025, edition of the Navajo Times.
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