The Fracking Industry's Methane Problem Is a Climate Problem

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While carbon dioxide โ€” deservedly โ€” gets a bad rap when it comes to climate change, about 40 percentย of global warmingย actually can be attributed to the powerful greenhouse gas methane,ย according to the 2013 IPCC report. This makes addressing methane emissions critical to stopping additionalย warming, especially in the near future.ย Methane is shorter-lived in the atmosphere butย 85 times more potentย than carbon dioxide over a 20 yearย period.ย 

Atmospheric levels of methane stopped increasing around the year 2000ย and at the time wereย expected to decrease in the future. However, they beganย increasing again in the last 10 years, spurring researchers to explore why. Robert Howarth, a biogeochemistย at Cornell University, recently presented his latest research linking the increase in methane to fossil fuel production,ย with fracking for natural gas, which is mostly methane,ย likely a majorย source.ย 


Global Monthly Mean CH4 (Methane)ย Credit: NOAA Earth Systemย Resource Laboratory, Global Monitoringย Division

In aย December 14 research presentationย in Ithaca, New York,ย Howarth arguedย that 3.4 percentย of all natural gas produced from shale in the U.S. isย leaked throughout theย productionย cycle.ย 

Howarthโ€™s research links theย increase in methane to the U.S. production of shale gas via fracking. The beginning of the U.S. fracking boom coincides with the beginning of the rise in methane in the past decade, and a 2018 NASA studyย linked the industry to this methane spike.

One thing that is becoming increasingly clear about the U.S. fracked oil and gas industry is that it leaks methane โ€” a lot of methane. About 60 percent more methane than previous Environmental Protection Agency estimates, which relied heavily on industry self-reporting, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Science.

Leaks, Venting, andย Blowouts

While the oil and gas industry makes claims about wanting to reduce methane leaks, it has been aided by two simple facts that help hide the scale of the problem:ย Methane isย odorless andย invisible to the naked eye. Difficult to detect,ย methane leaks in the oil and gas production system werenโ€™t obvious until people like Sharon Wilson at Earthworks began bringingย specialized infrared cameras to production facilities and helped make thoseย leaksย visible.

But it isn’t just unintentional leaks. Much of the methane released is intentionally โ€œventedโ€ to the atmosphere in areas without the processing plants, pipelines, and other expensive infrastructure to make use of it.ย 

Recently, Wilson took The New York Timesย to Texasย to documentย the severity of the situation. When the Times showed the results to Tim Doty, a former senior official at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality who is trained in infrared leak detection, he commented, โ€œThatโ€™s a crazy amount ofย emissions.โ€

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil and gas industry trade group,ย has been running misleading ads this fall, claiming the industryย has reduced emissions even as it successfully lobbied the Trump administration to roll back new regulations designed to reduce methaneย emissions.ย 

This month,ย Texans for Natural Gas, the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, and the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association released a reportย claiming relatively low flaring rates and thatย โ€œmethane emissions intensityโ€ isย downย forย the prolific Permian oil fields. However, according to E&E News, analysts at Rystad Energy reported in November that flaring, or burning, natural gasย in the Permian has hit an โ€œall-timeย high.โ€

Where are federal regulators? Letting industry self-audit. Susan Bodine, assistant director for EPA enforcement and compliance, said of the need for oil and gas well operatorsย to monitor and control pollutants, โ€œWe know it is a widespread problem.ย We feel the best way to get them back into compliance is for them to do itย themselves.โ€

Two reasons the industry is reluctantย to invest in methane emissions reduction equipment and infrastructureย in places like Texasย โ€” even though it isย in the business of selling methane as natural gas โ€” areย the oversupply of natural gas produced in America andย historically low natural gas prices. This is in large part due to what’s known asย โ€œassociated gas.โ€

Associated gasย is a byproductย of fracked oil wells. Oil well operators make most of their money selling oil, which fetches a higher price, and either burnย off (flare) or release (โ€œventโ€) the associated gasย into the atmosphere, as the infrared cameras makeย clear.ย 

At certain points this year, the price for natural gasย in Texas wentย negative. The industry has little economic incentive to stop leaks of a product that has noย value.ย 

In addition to the ongoing leaks that are part of daily operations, the oil and gas industry also has experiencedย accidents resultingย in major methaneย leaks.ย ย 

The Aliso Canyon methane leakย in California in 2015 was the largest documented methane leak in U.S. history,ย leaking from a natural gas storage facilityย for 118 days. The scale of the leak was comparable to the annual emissions of half a million cars.ย According to Thomas Ryerson, a research chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the accident was a major step back for the climate. โ€œOn the scale of the control efforts that have been put in place to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, it rolls that back years,โ€ he toldย Smithsonian Magazine.

Along with the infrared cameras that can โ€œseeโ€ methane leaks, satellites are now offering another way to track leaks,ย and the early reports arenโ€™t good. The New York Times reported this week that scientists determined a blown-out gas well in Ohio was a major methane leak โ€” much larger than the wellโ€™s owner ExxonMobil hadย reported.ย 

The oil and gas industry has been able to deny the scale of the methane problem for a long time because outside validation was scarce and fewย could prove companiesย werenโ€™t accurately reporting the numbers. These new technologies now allow those outside of industry to quantify the true scale of the methaneย problem.

Knowing the scale ofย the problem is one thing, but having regulatorsย who will hold the industry accountable for addressing it is a whole otherย problem.

Bridge Fuelย Propaganda

Natural gas is still a fossil fuel โ€” just like coal and oil โ€” and despiteย well-funded industry effortsย to promote natural gas as a climate solution, its methane problem makes itย a major contributor to the climate crisis. The natural gas industry has hailed it asย a โ€œbridge fuelโ€ that offersย a โ€œcleanerโ€ย energy option to bridge society’s transition to renewables. Much like the โ€œclean coalโ€ effort, thisย is nothing more than a marketing campaign to confuse the public and sell naturalย gas.ย 

Yet the industry gets help in this effort from politicians from both political parties in the U.S.ย The Obama administration oversaw the massive expansion of fracking over its eight years and promoted the idea of natural gas as a bridge fuel. Former members of Obama’sย administration continue to do just that,ย including former Vice President and current Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden,ย whose top energy advisor Heather Zichal,ย after leaving theย administration, was appointed to the board of natural gas company Cheniere Energy.ย 

High profile efforts to address climate change have allowedย the bridge fuel myth to linger. Former Secretary of Stateย John Kerry recently launched World War Zero, aย celebrity-backed initiative to rally โ€œunlikely alliesโ€ to respondย to the climate emergency. Among those allies areย proponents, such as former Ohio governor John Kasich,ย who are still advocating for natural gas as a bridge fuel. โ€œIf Iโ€™ve got to sign up to be an anti-fracker, count me out,โ€ Kasich told The New York Times.

As the scale of natural gas’s methane problemย becomes even clearer, the idea of natural gas as a โ€œbridge fuelโ€ loses its credibility. Especially when power generation from solar, wind, and battery storage, which are growing rapidly, areย already cheaper than coal and competitive with natural gas in manyย places.

Industry Back to Challenging Science and Misleading theย Public

For decades, the oil and gas industry has effectively delayed climate action by misleading the public and funding politicians to do the same by pretending there was a debate about the science. Itย worked.ย 

The industry is applying theย same approach toย natural gas. It releases ads with misleading messages saying it has achieved aย โ€œ60 Percentย Reduction in Emissionsโ€ (when it’s a reduction in emissionsย rates in some areas),ย along with relentless messaging about how natural gas is โ€œcleanโ€ and key to fighting globalย warming.ย 

The oil and gas industry knows it has a methane problem, and a methane problemย is inherently a climate problem. But the same industry that sought to sow doubt about climate science is sticking to its proven approach of misleading the public with pretty advertisements and compliantย politicians.ย 

However, efforts by activistsย like Sharon Wilson and scientists like Robert Howarth have revealed the invisible climate bomb that is methane. And that reality has the industryย worried.ย 

Scott Sheffield isย CEO of Pioneer Resources and a veteran of the fracking industry. He is on the record saying he believesย the industry has to stop flaring and venting so much methane. Sheffieldย sees riskย ahead.ย 

โ€œClimate change and investors are the two big challenges,โ€ he told the Wall Streetย Journal.ย 

Sheffield understands theย reality. As the scale of the fracking industry’s methane problemย becomes more widely known, the true impact of fracking for oil and gas becomes crystal clear. Burningย oil and gas is a significant contributor to climate change, but even before these fossil fuelsย make it into a car or power plant,ย weย now know that so isย simply producingย them.ย 

Main image: Methane sign. Credit: Jeremy Buckingham,ย CC BYย 2.0

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Justin Mikulka is a research fellow at New Consensus. Prior to joining New Consensus in October 2021, Justin reported for DeSmog, where he began in 2014. Justin has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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