Only Republicans still insist that man-made global climate change is not a critical reality, and I have no doubt that the stupidity exhibited by the leadership is completely willful. I’m sad to say that the level of methane pollution by the Natural Gas industry is much worse than previously thought because of a combination of the industry lying about it and EPA underestimation.
Natural gas gathering and processing plants leak much more methane than producers have reported, and even more than the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated, according to a study released Tuesday.
Researchers at Colorado State University found that U.S. gathering and processing facilities — where natural gas from nearby wells is consolidated for distribution through pipelines — leak 2,421,000 metric tons of methane each year. The facilities emit 100 billion cubic feet of natural gas every year, roughly eight times the amount previously estimated by the EPA.
Gathering facilities “could be responsible for something like 30 percent of emissions for all natural gas production,” the study’s lead researcher, Anthony Marchese, said on a press call Tuesday.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 86 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. It is the primary ingredient in natural gas.
The amount of emissions tracked in the study has roughly the same 20-year climate impact as 37 coal-fired power plants, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) said. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, is part of a series of studies organized by EDF that will compose the largest inventory of methane leaks in the U.S. natural gas industry to date. An earlier report in the series found that oil and gas operations on federal and tribal lands leaked $360 million worth of fuel in 2013.
Controlling methane emissions, especially as the United States increasingly extracts and uses natural gas, plays an important role in the effort to curtail climate change. On Tuesday, the Obama Administration proposed a new rule that seeks to regulate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Since the study and the new rule were released in the same day, I consoler it highly likely that the new rule is based in an outdated estimate of the problem and needs to be strengthened right away. I trust that the Obama Administration will respond appropriately, but we need to keep our eyes open to make sure.
However, the EDF contention that the Natural Gas industry is the the biggest source of methane leaks in the nation may not be correct. I think there is one larger.
20 Responses to “Methane Problem Worse Than Thought”
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UCS has a petition asking the EPA to do better research on this that I signed via email, but I'm not seeing it on the website collection yet.
Here's the EDF support on methane standards petition:
https://secure2.edf.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2664&_ga=1.189994281.329587280.1435183880
Thanks for posting this petition. As I can't see a dome above America which keep all the leaking methane and resulting climate change safely secured above that continent, I have no qualms about signing this petition as a non-resident.
Thanks for the link, I signed the petition.
Thanks Edie
Definitely signed!
Petition signed. Thanks forthe link.
I got the email on the fracking and drinking water petition, but not this one yet. I probably will, but if you find it I hope you will post it here.
I'd barely emptied the trash that petition email was in when TC posted this=feel free to post it if you get it Joanne.
Still haven't received it – signed from yout link – many thanks.
Been there. Signed that. Thanks!
Tee-hee. I thought about responding to the headline with "I resemble that remark," but of course I don't, or at least not to that extent. Congress, however ….
Gehenna Chile makes me Republifart pretty bad,
Thanks for the link, jla! I signed it as fast as I could get to it!
The methane that is from cattle feed lots is bad enough! They are leaking is totally insane!
You are welcome Vivian and thank you!
This is very depressing news, TomCat, but thank you for posting it nevertheless. You think that because his study and the new rule set by the Obama administration were released in the same day, the new rule is tailored to old emission/leaks data, and I'm sure you right. Actually, having seen that Obama gave Shell the OK to drill in the Arctic too yesterday, I hope I'm wrong but I don't think this administration is above bringing out their new rule concurrently so they could fall back on the excuse they didn't have the new data yet. Which would be somewhat hypocritical, because you be sure the administration gets to see the preliminary conclusions long before the final report comes out. As the new rule only applied to new methane and fracking wells, it seems the latest data on all of the wells is not taken into account.
That's why I say we need a new rule. As for Shell, I've always opposed Obama'drilling policy.
I hope the administration will respond quickly to the new report, but doubt they will. When I saw the title of this article I thought it would be something about DC,not really methane gas, since that is where most of the hot wind originates.
Hot wind too!
Thanks all! Pooped Hugs!