Environmental

Air Quality

What We Are Doing

We monitor operational air emissions in compliance with relevant state and federal regulations. We use this data to inform the continuous improvement of our processes and procedures. Individual permits require activity and emission data tracking and, in some cases, our historical data inventories date back to 2011. Across our operations, we continue to implement new and improved technologies that lead to more efficient processes and reduce local air emissions.

Governance

Our environmental program is managed by our Director, Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) — who is responsible for the oversight and management of all aspects of our environmental footprint. Our environmental program is ultimately guided by the Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors and by our management-level Environmental, Social, and Governance Committee. The Air Quality team, within the EHS department, is responsible for air quality permitting, compliance, and reporting. The Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committee receives quarterly reports on environmental progress such as emission reports, notices of violations, and strategic initiatives directed at improving our emissions profile.

Permits and Monitoring

Prior to construction or operation at a new wellsite location, we may be required to obtain air quality and other operational permits. When we receive a new permit, our Operations group reviews the permit to identify all future compliance responsibilities. We communicate permit requirements to our field workers, who collect and upload data into our Environmental Management System. We track emissions, obligations, limits, and other air quality requirements using our Environmental Management System and third-party software. We review the Environmental Management System monthly and identify improved processes for tracking and entering information. To gain better insight into tracking, analyzing, and projecting our emissions, we built a proprietary emissions model in 2021 that enables all of our employees to view or export our emissions data from a centralized data repository. The emissions model allows us to both track our historical emissions and project emissions up to five years into the future based on our current assets and production schedule.

Electrifying Our Fracturing Fleets

In alignment with our focus on decreasing completion costs and minimizing environmental impact, we began the process of transitioning to electric hydraulic fracturing (frac) fleets in 2019. In 2020, we completed the transition from diesel to electric power for substantially all of our frac fleets. These electric frac fleets use onsite natural gas to power a portion of our completions operations and have eliminated approximately 23 million gallons of diesel fuel from our operations annually and removed several thousand water hauling track runs from the roadways. Using onsite natural gas to power our frac fleets enables us to reduce local air emissions, decrease our carbon footprint, reduce trucks on the road, and capture proven operational efficiencies.

How We Are Doing

Audits and Reporting

We conduct inspections and audits to review compliance obligations and improve our operations. Our Corporate Audit group periodically selects internal programs or processes to audit. In reviewing findings, lessons learned can be applied to similar facilities via a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of continuous improvement.

Where required, we submit emissions reports and, in some cases, permit compliance certifications to applicable regulatory authorities. We submit annual emissions reports to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and we report relevant emissions in applicable states.

Inspections and Benchmarking

Our Air Quality team periodically inspects worksite locations to evaluate air quality compliance. This team also meets with state regulators to confirm alignment with state air quality regulations. We participate in a network of industry and regulatory groups to stay abreast of emerging regulations. Our EHS department also conducts internal inspections of our facilities and sites and field personnel perform periodic leak detection and repair inspections, as described in Climate and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

We benchmark our air emissions against our peers to identify potential improvement areas and evaluate our primary sources of internal emissions across our operating regions. In areas of success, we consult with state regulators and share best practices through our engagement in the Environmental Partnership and Our Nation's Energy Future.

We aim for 100% facility compliance with all permit requirements and emissions limitations and we review any operational incidents and notices of violation. We use stack test data, manufacturers’ data, and published emissions factors to calculate our air emissions.

Significant Air Emissions

Air Emissions Intensities (air emissions [tons]/gross production of hydrocarbons [BCFE])^[1]

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[1] Our intensity metrics are calculated based on emissions emitted divided by gross production of hydrocarbons (billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent). While there is no standard formula for calculating emissions intensity, we believe gross production (as opposed to net production) is the most accurate representation for calculating emissions intensity because gross production is a measure of the actual volume of hydrocarbons produced from the wells we operate.