A Bridge to Nowhere: Up to 75% more Deadly Methane emitted by Natural Gas Drilling than Estimated

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/emitted-drilling-estimated.html

A Bridge to Nowhere: Up to 75% more Deadly Methane emitted by Natural Gas Drilling than Estimated
By Juan Cole | Feb. 19, 2014

(By Andrea Germanos)

The amount of methane leaking from natural gas emissions is far higher than previously estimated, a new study shows, more evidence, as one expert says, that urgent action must be taken to reduce these greenhouse gas emissions.

~snip~

Methane is about 30 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so while President Obama has championed natural gas as a "bridge fuel" to address global warming, the climate implications of this "leaky" industry deserve scrutiny.

"People who go out and actually measure methane pretty consistently find more emissions than we expect," said lead author of the study Adam Brandt, an assistant professor of energy resources engineering at Stanford University.

"Atmospheric tests covering the entire country indicate emissions around 50 percent more than EPA estimates," said Brandt. "And that's a moderate estimate."

[hootinholler]

1. IIRC a recent study said 20% of wells were leaky when capped.

[kristopher]

2. I know it's cool to criticize natural gas

But it is worth bearing two things in mind:
1) Natural gas is killing the coal/nuclear industry so it is in their interest to turn the public against natural gas.
(Coal Friendly) EIA Increases Short-Term Coal Retirement Prediction by 50%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112764324

Nuclear Energy Operators Say Market Stacked Against Them
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2014/02/06/nuclear-energy-operators-say-market-stacked-against-them/

2) We need better, more comprehensive data on natural gas and we need it now.
The preliminary data is painting a picture that is worse than we thought but it isn't yet a clear picture.


And although the research in the op is solid, it isn't comprehensive enough for making sweeping policy decisions. To that end I'd love to see us start with some immediate, strong regulation on natural gas that calls for equipment to monitor emissions at every site - active and capped - within months not years.
I'd bet that is within the existing authority of the EPA.

[hootinholler]

3. Where to start?

First, I'm not critical of NG to be cool. I'm not even critical of NG, I am very much against Fracking for a lot of reasons.

Are you seriously saying we should support fracking because it is making coal go away? Nuclear has never been a viable market. The only reason it exists is that the government assumes a lot of the risk and they don't have to pay for storage of spent fuel.

As to your #2, the policies have already been set and they are bad. Excluding the energy industry from the Clean water act was a bad deal for the future of people living above shale fields. The negative impact on the environment is obvious just from the effluent holding ponds and spills without considering illegal dumping or the leaking methane at well heads and seeps that can occur miles from the wellhead.

I agree that vigorous monitoring would be a step in the right direction, but what ever we do at this point I fear it will be much too little far too late.

[kristopher]

4. Are you seriously saying that getting rid of coal isn't job one?

And that you have taken into consideration that the coal/nuclear industry might be behind the campaign to turn people against natural gas?

I agree with the criticisms of fracking, but the conclusions have been out there long before the evidence supported them. And given everything I know I'd still take fracking over coal mining because natural gas power plants can be phased out by renewables in a way that large coal/nuclear plants cannot. The coal/nuclear plants are shutting down because they can't afford to keep them open unless they run them almost 24/7. Most of the gas plants can be turned on/off quickly enough to be used as support for wind and solar. This rapid ramping capability has a value that can be monetized - a fact that allows us to run them less and less and less until we no longer need them.

The solution we need to pursue is more wind, more solar, along with increased regulation and monitoring of fracking.

That is the path off of carbon, like it or not. Any other strategy moves us away from carbon far more slowly.