❝ The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a new study…examining what caused a methane “hot spot” to form in New Mexico. This new study of methane emissions generated by the oil and gas industry in the state’s San Juan Basin is a major step forward in understanding the causes of New Mexico’s methane “hot spot.” It follows up on a 2014 satellite-based study that initially found the “hot spot” and sought to identify its specific causes.
❝ The NASA study found that roughly 50 percent of basin-wide methane emissions come from more than 250 very large polluters that were detected by intensive NASA aerial surveys and ground crews. According to the authors, this finding confirms researchers’ earlier speculation that most of the basin’s methane emissions are related to natural gas extraction and coal mining.
But this is only half of the story as the study did not determine the source of the remaining 50 percent of emissions. Given the more than 20,000 (mainly older) gas wells, myriad storage tanks, thousands of miles of pipelines and several gas processing plants in the area, NASA’s finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the “hot spot” is not surprising. In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted.
Today’s Republicans do nothing by definition. Most of the state’s leading Democrats worry about meeting budget requirements defined almost solely by reliance on fossil fuel extraction. There is nothing approaching a Green Party and hasn’t been for 22 years.
The few activist enviro organizations fight the good fight — like the Wild Earth Guardians. There are more. Just not enough.
A new scientific study, a summary of which appeared in the journal Nature yesterday, shows that while gas production has soared in recent years, the industry’s rate of leakage appears to have declined. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060043917 (3rd in a series of stories about carbon sinks and sources. Links to parts one and two are included, along with a link to the Nature article).
Oil and gas production on U.S. public lands generates about $9 billion annually, making it one of the largest non-tax sources of federal funds. The resource is overseen by the Interior Department, which is legally required to collect royalty payments and to make sure the public’s resources are not being wasted. The report notes that officials of the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees land-based oil and gas leases, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which watches offshore production, had little motivation to use new technologies, such as infrared cameras that can see major plumes of escaping gas. The result, GAO said, was that real leakage rates were running as much as 30 times higher than the Interior Department estimates.
The United States had lost $58 million in federal royalty payments in 2008. With proper management, 40 percent of the lost gas might have been recovered and sold. The fugitive emissions of methane and CO2 were comparable to the emissions of 8 million passenger cars or 10 average-sized coal-fired power plants. The Environmental Defense Fund, a New York-based environmental group, later commissioned its own testing of emissions from federally managed oil and gas fields and concluded that $330 million a year in natural gas resources were being wasted.
“Methane emissions from fossil fuels may be twice as high as previously thought, a new study says.” http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/1006/Methane-methane-everywhere-Much-comes-from-fossil-fuels “After carbon dioxide, methane is considered the second biggest source of manmade greenhouse gases. The study’s authors have pulled together the most comprehensive methane emissions database yet, and concluded that emissions from fossil fuels are between 60 and 110 percent greater than current estimates. After accounting for “natural geological methane seepage,” methane emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas production are still between 20 and 60 percent higher than previously thought.” http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v538/n7623/full/nature19797.html
Oct 26: A new Stanford study finds that just a few natural gas wells account for more than half of the total volume of leaked methane gas in the United States. Fixing leaks at those top emitters could significantly reduce leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. http://news.stanford.edu/2016/10/26/super-emitters-responsible-bulk-u-s-methane-emissions/
“Venting and Flaring Rule kills New Mexico jobs” By U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce / N.M.’s Second Congressional District. Sunday, February 12th, 2017 https://www.abqjournal.com/948457/venting-and-flaring-rule-kills-jobs.html
Pearce named to Natural Resources Committee http://nmpoliticalreport.com/145742/pearce-named-natural-resources-committee-en/ “…Pearce has strong support from energy and natural resource donors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, those sectors gave the most to his re-election campaign last year—$307,700 out of about $1.8 million in total donations. Two of Pearce’s five top contributors were energy companies, and donations from oil and gas companies alone totaled more than $220,000.”
E&E News reports that if the Senate votes to repeal the BLM’s Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, states, tribes and federal taxpayers could lose out on millions of dollars in annual revenue that goes to support social services, higher education and other needs. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060050083 See also “The arguments for keeping methane regs” @ http://www.hcn.org/articles/methane-rules-in-danger
EPA halts inquiry into oil and gas industry emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/02/epa-halts-inquiry-into-oil-and-gas-industry-emissions-of-methane-a-powerful-greenhouse-gas/ The Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday it was withdrawing a request that operators of existing oil and gas wells provide the agency with extensive information about their equipment and its emissions of methane, undermining a last-ditch Obama administration climate change initiative.
“NM plays key role in methane rule conflict” https://www.abqjournal.com/962367/nm-plays-key-role-in-methane-rule-conflict.html New Mexico is playing a key role because it’s particularly impacted by emissions from oil and gas operations. The San Juan Basin in the Four Corners area is responsible for 14.5 percent of total U.S. methane emissions, according to data from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. ICF International, an independent consulting firm, estimates New Mexico loses about $100 million worth of gas extracted annually on federal and tribal lands in the state. Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. Also since it’s the simplest hydrocarbon, methane (natural gas) produces more heat per mass unit (55.7 kJ/g) than other complex hydrocarbons.
“Regulator links methane cloud to natural seeps” (Farmington Daily Times, March 8) http://www.daily-times.com/story/money/industries/oil-gas/2017/03/08/regulator-links-methane-cloud-natural-seeps/98915052/ The former oil and natural gas company executive believes a NASA survey of the methane cloud and its sources missed the “larger contributions” of methane from coal-seam outcroppings and coal mining. Ben Shelton, legislative and political director for Conservation Voters New Mexico, called the claims “patently false.” CVNM petition @ https://www.congressweb.com/CVNM/126
(June 14) “The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday it would postpone a 2016 rule limiting methane and smog-forming pollutants from oil and gas wells. The decision was made at the request of firms that would be affected by rule as the EPA reconsidered whether to implement the stricter standard. Separately, the Bureau of Land Management entered a notice into the Federal Register on Friday stating it would delay compliance with a rule finalized in November that would limit methane burned off from drilling operations on federal and tribal lands.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-delays-rules-limiting-methane-emissions/2017/06/14/0e7d50fa-512b-11e7-be25-3a519335381c_story.html
“As the feds yank methane regulations, NM’s methane hotspot isn’t going away” (6/19/17) http://nmpoliticalreport.com/336507/as-the-feds-yank-methane-regulations-nms-methane-hotspot-isnt-going-away/ Also “…there’s a new study showing that the methane hotspot is not dissipating, despite the downturn in natural gas production in the San Juan Basin.” http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b06107
U.S. environmental chief Scott Pruitt met in March with oil executives over dinner in Trump International Hotel, just as he was moving to relieve the industry of one of its biggest Obama-era regulatory burdens: a requirement to curtail methane leaks.
The session inside the hotel just blocks from the White House was just one of a series of meetings the Environmental Protection Agency administrator had with oil, coal and chemical leaders during his first six weeks on the job, according to newly released details of his schedule. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-16/trump-s-environmental-chief-met-oil-executives-at-trump-hotel
See also “How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html