Methane Emissions Counting

EPA is Proposing a Policy that Would Require Energy Companies to Report to the Federal Government All Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Oil Well Fracking Operations and Natural Gas Compressor Stations and Pipelines

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposinga new rulethat would require energy companies to report to the federal government all greenhouse gas emissions from oil well fracking operations and natural gas compressor stations and pipelines.

The EPA'sGreenhouse Gas Reporting Programcurrently requires energy companies to report only those emissions from fracking operations that involve flaring —the industry's practice ofburning off excess natural gasat a well site.

Scientists have called for a more thorough accounting of the energy industry's greenhouse gas emissions so they can fully understand how oil and gas operations affect climate change.Many studies have shownthat methane frequently leaks from oil and gas operations, buttoo little public information existsfor researchers to know the specific sources of the emissions.

"These emissions sources are currently not covered by the GHG Reporting Program, and a nationally comprehensive data set of the emissions from the sources the EPA is proposing to include does not currently exist in the public domain," EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said.

The EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which has been operating for about four years, requires about 8,000 large industrial greenhouse gas emitters toreport their own emissions. The pollution they report represents about50 percent of all greenhouse gas emissionsin the U.S.

The proposed rule also requires companies to reveal oil well identification information along with emissions data.

The Environmental Defense Fund and a group of other organizations petitioned the EPA in 2013 to make the reporting requirements more comprehensive.

"The original reporting rule did not include gathering and boosting systems at all," Environmental Defense Fund senior attorney Tomas Carbonell said. "This is a major part of the inventory. Gathering and boosting was likely about 10 percent of all onshore oil and gas emissions."

He said the additional emissions data on fracking and natural gas systems will help give the public a more complete picture of where emissions are coming from in the U.S.

Robert Howarth, a Cornell University ecology and environmental biology professor whose work has focused on the greenhouse gas footprint of shale gas, said the proposed EPA rule is a step in the right direction for tracking greenhouse gas emissions, and it's important that the EPA wants individual wells and their emissions to be publicly identified.

Source: RawStory

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy

• Environment
• Fracking
• Governance & Planning