We illustrate our commitment to responsible environmental stewardship by implementing industry-leading environmental protection practices and technologies, striving for continuous performance improvement, and holding ourselves accountable through transparent reporting on our progress.
We support compliance through a comprehensive environmental management system (EMS), which is informed by ISO 14001, that includes programs on Air Quality, Air Monitoring, Avian Protection, Biodiversity, Emergency Response, Incident Management, Methane and GHG Inventory Management, Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials, Site Reclamation, Soil and Groundwater Remediation, Spill Prevention, Storm Water Management, and Waste Management.
Our management system defines roles and responsibilities and the ultimate work authority for each area, specific job responsibilities for relevant workers at different levels and functional teams, and requirements and processes for each area.
Mitigating climate change impacts, reducing our emissions, operating more efficiently, and contributing to the transition to a lower-carbon economy are key priorities for WES. Natural gas, which is one of the primary products we transport, plays a vital role in the global transition to cleaner energy sources. Natural gas not only serves as a lower-emission bridge fuel for generating electricity and powering industry, but it also supports renewable power generation by providing a versatile, quick-to-ramp-up fuel source for times when wind, solar, or other alternative fuels are not available or cannot meet peak demand.
In addition to supporting the expanded use of natural gas, we have already identified and implemented a number of projects to help reduce emissions in our existing operations and activities:
We reduce energy use and indirect emissions through:
We have also introduced improvements to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our emissions reporting. For example, we are working to implement emissions monitoring technology, including aircraft- and ground-based technologies, and increasing the use of source- and site-specific data in our emissions calculations. Moving forward, we are developing forecasting tools that will help us model climate risks, emissions, and emissions reduction opportunities. This modeling will improve our ability to identify the most impactful emissions reduction strategies and better inform our decisions as we pursue more efficient, less emissions-intensive operations.
We work to conserve biodiversity and protect sensitive habitats and ecosystems including rivers, wetlands, and nesting areas for raptors across our operating areas. We aim to avoid – rather than mitigate – impacts to the environment throughout the entire project lifecycle.
Prior to beginning a new project, we assess sites for the presence of natural and cultural resources that could potentially become affected by our operations. In addition, we hire third-party, independent biologists to monitor activities at each major stage for our new and major maintenance projects.
We strive to minimize the generation of hazardous and nonhazardous waste from our operations by implementing programs to increase reuse and recycling across our supply chain.
Whenever possible, we recycle materials used in our operations, including, for example, engine exhaust catalysts, scrap metal, and used engine oil.
We follow a range of best practices to minimize the production of waste, including:
Preventing the release of any potentially harmful substances is our top environmental priority. We use a comprehensive monitoring and avoidance system to identify and stop potential releases. For example, employees at our Tactical Operations Center and local operations control centers remotely monitor equipment, including tank and pipeline pressure levels, and we can shut down much of our infrastructure remotely if alarms are triggered.
We install secondary containment around all containers holding 55 gallons or more of chemicals and process fluids. We conduct periodic third-party inspections to confirm Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans accurately reflect onsite equipment and to ensure oil storage containers are in proper working order.
Where feasible, we install engineering controls and processes that eliminate the potential for releases to occur.
Our primary potential water impact stems from the disposal of produced water, which we gather and dispose of for oil and gas production customers. Freshwater consumption is not a significant environmental impact of our operations
WES owns and operates 799 miles of produced-water pipeline, 54 disposal wells, and associated water treatment facilities, with a system capacity of 1.825 million barrels of water per day in the Delaware Basin. We also operate one produced water separation site in the DJ Basin.
Prior to disposal, we store water in above-ground tanks that have release-prevention mechanisms and secondary containment liners, which reduces release risks, emissions, and wildlife impacts compared to open storage ponds.
We also transport our customers’ produced water to disposal wells. In most cases, this transport occurs via pipeline as opposed to trucks. Our extensive network of underground water pipelines significantly reduces release risks and enables us to reduce trucking-related emissions, improve road safety, and reduce road degradation.
