Energy Exchange

Vast Aliso Canyon leak reveals need for increased natural gas oversight

By Tim O'Connor / Published: November 11, 2015

More than a hundred frightened local residents packed a room at the Porter Ranch Community School for three hours last week, looking for answers about the foul stench caused by a massive natural gas leak nearby. Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility has been leaking vast amounts of noxious gas into the air for two weeks, with still no end in sight.

Environmental health risks abound

The familiar rotten-egg smell of mercaptan – which utilities add to the normally odorless gas – hangs in the air for at least a mile, a pungent reminder of the potential health, safety and environmental risks of the uncontained airborne spill. Natural gas is mostly methane; a powerful pollutant that contributes to smog formation and global climate change, packing 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years it is in the atmosphere. Aliso Canyon is the largest natural gas storage site in the Western U.S., operating under intense injection pressures and holding huge amounts of methane. Read More »

Also posted in Aliso Canyon, Methane / Comments are closed

Cutting Oil and Gas Methane A Key Pillar of Global Climate Strategy, Says IEA

By Drew Nelson / Published: November 10, 2015

Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its latest World Energy Outlook, which projects how global energy systems will evolve between now and 2040 and estimates their relative impact on the climate. This annual report always offers important insight into where some of the world’s top experts see the global energy sector heading. But what’s particularly striking this year is its highlight on oil and gas methane, among other interesting conclusions.

The report confirms and builds on IEA’s findings from earlier this summer — that global emissions could peak by 2020 without slowing economic growth, and that reducing methane emissions from the world’s oil and gas industry is one of the fastest, biggest opportunities to make significant climate progress now.

In particular, the gas chapter includes this important takeaway:

“The oil and gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions, a potent contributor to climate change. Outside North America, the absence of robust policy action in this area represents a major missed opportunity to tackle near-term warming. The available evidence suggests that a relatively small number of emitters may account for a large share of overall emissions, but tracking and fixing these leaks – which can be short-lived and intermittent – requires a systematic effort of measurement, reporting and monitoring, backed up by effective regulation.” Read More »

Also posted in Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

PBS Sheds Light on Oil and Gas Industry’s Methane Problem—and Solutions

By Jon Goldstein / Published: November 9, 2015

*UPDATE: On Jan. 22 the Bureau of Land Management announced new rules to curb methane pollution on federal and tribal lands. Click here to show your support for protecting the West from oil & gas pollution.*

In case you missed it, PBS NewsHour recently took a close look at an issue EDF has been deeply involved in: oil and gas methane emissions.

PBS captured what many across the country have experienced for years – frustration with a significant waste and pollution problem. U.S. oil and gas drillers emit millions of tons of methane into the air every year. This pollution increases global warming and deteriorates air quality. As impacted rancher Don Schreiber in Gobernador, New Mexico told the reporter, the problem is “sobering.”

Also posted in Air Quality, Climate, Methane, Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Energy Companies and States Lead the Way on the Clean Power Plan

By Mandy Warner / Published: November 6, 2015

The Clean Power Plan is now officially in business and protecting the health and safety of all Americans.

The Clean Power Plan establishes America’s first-ever nationwide limits on harmful carbon pollution from our nation’s largest source, power plants. It builds on years of stakeholder engagement and input, and adopts a flexible approach that empowers states to develop their own individually tailored compliance plans that reflect their own policy priorities.

Power Companies Are Working With States to Craft Compliance Plans

Major power companies have recognized the opportunities available with home-grown compliance plans that fully harvest state flexibility and the potential of a low-carbon economy. Xcel Energy, for example, just announced plans to cut carbon emissions across its Northern States Power system by 60 percent by 2030, at negligible cost to consumers. Read More »

Posted in General / Comments are closed

An Environmental Perspective on Risk Management and Water

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 3, 2015

5742791444_a15366e083_z The oil and gas industry has been busy the last few years trying to respond to significant environmental concerns raised by an often skeptical public. While there have been noteworthy improvements in how industry conducts business and how regulators oversee this activity, more needs to be done to manage risks.

In an invited guest editorial in this month’s Journal of Petroleum Technology, EDF Senior Policy Director Scott Anderson offers our assessment of where efforts to protect water need to focus at this juncture. The editorial is re-posted with permission of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Read the full editorial here.

Image Source: Flickr user Jeremy Buckingham

Also posted in Natural Gas / Comments are closed

Clean Energy Conference Roundup: November 2015

By EDF Blogs / Published: October 29, 2015

Each month, the Energy Exchange rounds up a list of top clean energy conferences around the country. Our list includes conferences at which experts from the EDF Clean Energy Program will be speaking, plus additional events that we think our readers may benefit from marking on their calendars.

Top clean energy conferences featuring EDF experts in November:

November 3-5: European Utility Week (Vienna, Austria)
Speaker: Kate Zerrenner, Manager

With two programs—the Strategic Conference Program and the free-to-attend Hub Sessions on the exhibition floor—as well as a multitude of new exhibition features, the event is a dynamic environment for the smart energy community to come together and thrash out which strategies will be the most effective or most affordable in the future.

November 6-7: Yale Environmental Sustainability Summit (New Haven, CT)
Speaker: Fred Krupp, President

How will our planet provide food, energy, and water for a growing population and as our climate changes? Can we develop more sustainable systems for producing and distributing food; drive towards lower carbon and GHG intensity in our economies; and effectively manage our increasingly scarce fresh water supplies and fragile ecosystems? How can efficiency and innovation help reduce our impact—while increasing our well-being? The Yale Environmental Sustainability Summit (YESS) will engage University alumni, faculty, staff, and students—as well as outside experts, practitioners, and scholars—to tackle topics, including these, in the first annual conference of its kind at Yale. Fred is scheduled to deliver remarks during the conference dinner on Friday, Nov. 6. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Conference Roundup / Comments are closed