Energy Exchange

What a catastrophic gas leak in Pennsylvania means for our climate and health

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 21, 2022

Image credit: Methane plume from the leak captured by the Sentinel-2 satellite on 9 November (data processed by UNEP/IMEO)

Update: According to the operator, this leak has been plugged.

By Adam Peltz and Jon Goldstein

A natural gas storage site in Western Pennsylvania has sprung a massive gas leak that’s impacting both the climate and the communities who live in Cambria County.

The leak began Thursday, Nov. 6 at a facility operated by Equitrans Midstream Corporation. Despite efforts from the company and state officials, it has continued for weeks – causing over 1 billion cubic feet of methane and other pollutants to fill the air. Its impact is massive – large enough to be seen and quantified from space from the growing network of methane satellites. The near-term warming generated from this single site over the course of a few weeks is roughly equivalent to emissions from 360,000 cars over a year.

Posted in General / Comments are closed

4 main takeaways from America’s top transit agencies on electrifying buses

By Pamela MacDougall / Published: July 28, 2022

Many U.S. transit agencies, from New York to Los Angeles to Houston, are working to convert their bus fleets from diesel to electric. The number of electric transit buses currently on order or operating in the U.S. grew 112% from 2018 to 2021, according to CALSTART. Electric buses are cleaner, quieter and increasingly more cost-effective than traditional diesel-powered alternatives.

While many makes and models of electric buses are now available to address transit agencies’ needs, charging is still a significant hurdle. Transit agencies are faced with the complexity of determining charging infrastructure needs while maintaining operations and reducing costs, which can be a maze of decisions and obstacles to overcome.

To uncover the emerging trends, barriers and best practices these agencies are implementing to meet their own electrification goals, EDF worked with Atlas Public Policy to interview 28 transit agencies in the process of electrifying their fleets, as well as utilities, engineering firms, charging manufacturers and thought leaders in transit charging. The results are highlighted in a new report out today entitled, Deploying Charging Infrastructure for Electric Transit Buses: Best practices and lessons learned from deployments to date.

Posted in Electric Vehicles / Comments are closed

TCEQ announces critical new funding commitment for zero-emission trucks

By Phillip Martin / Published: July 14, 2022

Critical funding for more zero-emission trucks in Texas is on the way. For the first time ever, a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality grant program that provides incentives to replace heavy-duty diesel vehicles will guarantee that at least half of the funding awarded will go to projects that include zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The recently announced change will make this money available in the next round of grant funding for the Texas Clean Fleet Program, which will be open for applications soon.

Nitrogen oxide from diesel trucks contributes to climate change while increasing air pollution and harming the health of Texans. Our state is currently experiencing historic heat, which can be directly attributed to climate change. By replacing dirty diesel vehicles with clean alternatives, Texas is taking direct aim at climate and air pollution.

Posted in Electric Vehicles, Texas / Comments are closed

New York PSC must ensure charging infrastructure in place for medium and heavy-duty fleet electrification

By Elizabeth B. Stein / Published: June 29, 2022

One thing is clear: The New York Public Service Commission does not shy away from a challenge. Since the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was adopted in 2019, setting economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction targets and directing the PSC to eliminate emissions from electric generation, the commission has been hard at work updating its programs where its role under the new law is clear, and making sense of the rest.

New York’s decarbonization path is nascent, particularly when it comes to eliminating pollution from activities that do not rely directly on utility systems today, but that will rely on those systems to eliminate their emissions in the future. Trucks and buses are a perfect example. These vehicles are a small slice of the transportation pie, yet they are responsible for an outsized share of the air pollution from transportation, including about half of the transportation-related nitrogen oxide and particulate matter contaminants. These pollutants cause serious health problems, like asthma — especially in communities that experience high truck traffic.

Posted in Air Quality, Electric Vehicles, New York / Comments are closed

The time has come for NYPSC to focus on charging infrastructure for trucks and buses

By Elizabeth B. Stein / Published: May 11, 2022

New York is at a crossroads. Our flagship climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, requires significant emissions reductions statewide. This puts every sector of our economy on the hook to deliver and position New York on a path to climate safety. To achieve the CLCPA’s goals, government agencies, communities and the private sector must work together to establish systems and solutions that reduce climate pollution, improve air quality and equity, and spark economic growth throughout the state.

The CLCPA’s vision cannot be achieved without tackling emissions from the transportation sector, the state’s second largest source of climate pollution and a significant contributor to local air pollution. New York policymakers have recognized this reality, but a transition to new types of vehicles can only be as successful as the infrastructure that powers them. And there, the New York Public Service Commission holds the key to success. That is why EDF, together with parties, has just filed a petition requesting that the Commission take steps to address the charging infrastructure needs of electric trucks and buses in the state.

Posted in Electric Vehicles, NESCAUM, New York / Comments are closed

States should not weaken liability laws for CCS projects

By Scott Anderson / Published: May 3, 2022

Early this January, a geyser in West Texas started spewing tens of thousands of barrels of salty water a hundred feet into the air and coating the nearby land with salt deposits. It took about 10 days to discover the culprit was an old, dry oil well plugged in 1957 by Gulf Oil. By the next day, the Texas Railroad Commission had turned over the blowout and remediation to Chevron (who acquired Gulf Oil in the 1980s), who assumed full responsibility immediately and without question.

This is a normal cost of doing business in the oilfield in Texas and elsewhere — you break it, you pay for it.

Traditional regulatory and legal principles around liability are designed to hold operators accountable when they or those they are responsible for fail to live up to their responsibilities. Such rules encourage operators to do as good and thorough a job as technically feasible.

However, some states are weakening these rules for operators of carbon sequestration and storage projects. If this quiet trend continues, the integrity of these projects, their climate benefits and their public acceptance could be significantly threatened.

Posted in Carbon capture, Texas, Wyoming / Authors: sanderson / Comments are closed