Methane Leaks from Oil and Gas 60% Higher Than EPA Estimates, New Study Finds

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Each year, oil and gas industryย operations in the U.S. are leaking roughly 60 percent more methane, a powerful greenhouse gas,ย into our atmosphere than previous estimates from theย U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which relied heavily on self-reporting by theย industry.

That’s the conclusion of a study published today in the peer-reviewed journal Science and conducted with funding from the Department of Energy, NASA, and private foundations. The two dozen researchers involvedย found that the U.S. oil and gas supply chain releases between 11 and 15 million metric tons of methane perย year.ย 

โ€œThis study confirms the growing body of peer-reviewed science indicating oil and gas extraction’s methane pollution makes it as harmful to climate as coal burning’s carbon dioxide pollution,โ€ said Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Cornell University professor emeritus of engineering and vice president of Earthworks’ board ofย directors.

โ€œThis confirms there is no ‘bridge fuel’,โ€ Ingraffea said. โ€œTo stave off catastrophic climate change we need to immediately drop all fossil fuels in favor of conservation andย renewables.โ€

A Leakyย System

Methaneย is a powerful and fast-acting greenhouse gas.ย Each ton of methane causes over 80 times the amount of climate warming as an equal amount of carbon dioxide in the first two decades after it enters the atmosphere. It’s also the primary ingredient in the natural gas that’s used to heat homes and to generate electricity โ€” and when it leaks from oil and gas wells, pipelines, and other equipment, it can cause the world’s climate to grow hotterย faster.

Even when methane is burned, it still has a globe-warming effect because it releases carbon dioxide emissions of its own. A โ€œnew, efficientโ€ natural gas power plant generates about 40 to 50 percentย as much carbon dioxide as a โ€œtypical new coal plantโ€ when that gas is burned, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists โ€” but the methane leaks in the supply chain come on top of that carbonย pollution.

The new paper in Science notes that because methane naturally breaks down in the atmosphere faster than carbon, cutting methaneย โ€œemissions can effectively reduce the near-term rate ofย warming.โ€

And that’s vitally important because the costs of climate change are extraordinary even when measured just in financial terms. Within a decade, the tab will reach a billion dollars a day, Bloomberg reported last year โ€” and that’s in the U.S.ย alone.

The Politicalย Climate

While the debate in Washington,ย D.C. under the Trump administration has focused on whether climate change is โ€œrealโ€ (spoiler: the scientific consensus remains robust โ€” our climate is changing, and yes, human activity is the main cause), international efforts to shift away from fossil fuels are edging forward but not yet fast enough to hit the Paris Agreement’s goal.ย A draft report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was leaked earlier this month, concluded that โ€œrapid and far-reachingโ€ changes are needed and that so far, efforts to limit warming to below 1.5ยฐ Celsius over pre-industrial levels areย faltering.

And that change is coming fast. โ€œIf emissions continue at their present rate, human-induced warming will exceed 1.5ยฐC by around 2040,โ€ or 22 years from now, the draft IPCC report reads. (Ingraffea warns that the impacts of methane leaks, which have received less focus in climate research, could speed that warming up, causing 2ยฐC (3.6ยฐF) of climate change in as little as 10 to 15ย years.)

In D.C., climate science deniers have obtained unprecedented political power under the Trump administration, and include the EPA‘s chief Scott Pruitt, who recently questioned whether a changing climate, which will bring rising sea levels, drought, hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters, is โ€œnecessarily a badย thing.โ€

Given that political climate, environmental groups called for action from state-level regulators in response to the Scienceย study.

โ€œIf the Trump administration cared one iota about science-based reality, these results would cause EPA Administrator Pruitt and Interior Secretary Zinke to end their efforts to roll back oil and gas methane pollution safeguards,โ€ Earthworks policy director Lauren Pagel said. โ€œBecause they wonโ€™t, state-based efforts to do so in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and other states are all the moreย important.โ€

Patching Leaks, Moving Away From Fossilย Fuels

The new study mixed on-the-ground and airborne measurements, drawing on measurements at over 400 well pads in a half-dozen heavily drilled areas of the U.S., as well as other industry equipment like pipelines, valves, and tanks, and in addition to aerialย surveys.

It was organized by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), whose coziness with the oil and gas industry has drawn the ire of other environmental organizations. As DeSmog has previously reported, parts of โ€œthe EDFโ€™s methane emissions study [are] heavily industry funded. Those backing the University of Texas study [part of that research series] include Anadarko, BG Group, Chevron, Encana, Pioneer Natural Resources, Shell, Southwestern Energy, Talisman Energy, and XTO Energy, anย ExxonMobilย subsidiary.โ€

One of the contributors to the new report, Professorย David Allen of the University of Texas at Austin, was accused in 2016 of committing scientific fraud in his research on methane leaks by disregarding warnings that his data was tainted by malfunctioning equipment. The EPA‘s Inspector General declined in 2016 to investigate those allegations and closed itsย case.

In a press release announcing the new study, EDF emphasized the cost of those leaks โ€” which lost enough to โ€œfuel 10 million homesโ€ with a market value of over $2 billion โ€” and the financial incentives that industry has to preventย leaks.

โ€œScientists have uncovered a huge problem, but also an enormous opportunity,โ€ said EDF Chief Scientist Steven Hamburg and study co-author. โ€œReducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is the fastest, most cost-effective way we have to slow the rate of warming today, even as the larger transition to lower-carbon energyย continues.โ€

But the oil and gas industry has for decades argued that those financial incentives would be enough to make operators police their own wells โ€” but nonetheless, methane leaks haveย continued.

In 2016, the EPA announced a voluntary leak-reporting program called One Future โ€” and out of 8,000 eligible oil and gas companies, only 10 signed on, Reuters reported lastย year.

Other environmental groups are urging a transition away from natural gas and other fossil fuels as a more reliable way to prevent climateย change.

โ€œBy its own admission, EDFโ€™s report underestimates the full volume of methane leakage throughout the entire fracking process,โ€ Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch said in a statement. โ€œFurthermore, every dollar that goes into fracking means fewer dollars invested in wind, solar, and other clean energyย systems.โ€

โ€œInstead of looking for ways to patch upย inherently flawed energy approaches like gas fracking,โ€ she added, โ€œwe should be placing an immediate moratorium on all fossil fuel development and embracing an immediate shift to 100 percent clean, renewable energy now.โ€ย ย 

Main image: Optical gas imaging reveals emissions from gas industry equipment on March 10, 2018 in Reeves County, Texas.ย Credit:ย Earthworks, viaย YouTube

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Sharon Kelly is an attorney and investigative reporter based in Pennsylvania. She was previously a senior correspondent at The Capitol Forum and, prior to that, she reported for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Earth Island Journal, and a variety of other print and online publications.

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