{"id":15788,"date":"2017-06-27T09:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T13:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=15788"},"modified":"2017-06-27T09:08:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T13:08:14","slug":"texas-should-listen-to-its-own-scientific-task-force-about-methane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/06\/27\/texas-should-listen-to-its-own-scientific-task-force-about-methane\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas should listen to its own scientific task force about methane"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Map of Texas oil and gas wells that would have been covered under recently-delayed EPA methane rules.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This post originally appeared on TribTalk.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A\u00a0new report<\/a>\u00a0from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) Shale Task Force underscores the problem of methane emissions from Texas\u2019 oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

When burned, natural gas has about half the CO2 emissions of coal (that\u2019s good!), but the release of methane into the atmosphere can greatly erode that benefit. TAMEST explains that methane leak rates can greatly impact the overall greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas and reduce the benefit of burning natural gas versus coal. As TAMEST puts it, \u201cAlthough the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas combustion is lower than the footprint associated with coal or petroleum combustion, emissions along the supply chain of natural gas can change this footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report notes that when industry emits methane, it also emits other hazardous air pollutants that could jeopardize public health \u2014 and calls for more research to better understand how these emissions could be harming communities near oil and gas developments.<\/p>\n

But the report,\u00a0written by a task force that consisted of oil and gas experts from academia, industry and non-governmental organizations,\u00a0also examines the solutions for reducing these harmful emissions. According to the experts, \u201crecent federal and state regulations have reduced emissions from multiple types of emission sources\u201d and the report authors go on to predict that these emissions will continue to decrease<\/strong> under our nation\u2019s current methane policies.<\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, this observation would be considered good news. But with the\u00a0Trump Administration placing a two-year pause on methane controls<\/a>, air pollution is expected to get worse, not better. As the number one source of oil and gas methane pollution in the country \u2014 Texas is about to bare the biggest brunt of this proposed rule suspension.\u00a0EDF estimates<\/a>\u00a0that, without national methane reduction policies, Texas companies could pump up to nearly 10,000 tons of methane and another 100 tons of hazardous air pollutants into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Regrettably, when it comes to climate and air, Texas\u2019 political, regulatory and industry leadership are openly hostile toward any efforts aimed at solving the negative trade-offs associated with oil and gas. The Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Oil and Gas Association are among some of the entities\u00a0suing the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>\u00a0over commonsense pollution controls \u2014 effectively using taxpayer dollars to argue in favor of more pollution.<\/p>\n

According to the TAMEST report:<\/p>\n

In 2016, under the Obama administration, the EPA began collecting information from oil and gas operators to inform potential future [methane] standards for oil and gas production sources. In March 2017, under the (then) new Trump administration, the EPA officially withdrew the information collection request.<\/em><\/p>\n

This EPA information request was in preparation for future methane rules to address pollution from existing oil and gas sources \u2014 especially important in Texas, since as TAMEST points out, \u201cexisting well sources in Texas far outnumber newly created wells…\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Guess who led the charge to petition the Trump administration to withdraw this EPA information collection request? Yep, the state of Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These unfortunate decisions by Texas policy makers will directly impact Texans and go against the findings of the state\u2019s own oil and gas experts. The very emission decreases cited in the TAMEST report are now in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Texas\u2019 actions prove many of our state leaders are turning blind eyes to some of the biggest health and environmental risks associated with oil and gas development \u2014 fighting tooth and nail against existing protections and efforts to learn more to inform future protections.<\/p>\n

We should praise the good work of the TAMEST Shale Task Force. At the same time, we need to hold our government leadership and the industry\u2019s worst actors accountable for ignoring what their own experts are telling them.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: The <\/em>Environmental Defense Fund <\/em>has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared on TribTalk.org.\u00a0 A\u00a0new report\u00a0from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) Shale Task Force underscores the problem of methane emissions from Texas\u2019 oil and gas industry. When burned, natural gas has about half the CO2 emissions of coal (that\u2019s good!), but the release of methane into the atmosphere …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,55717,693,181],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-methane-2","category-natural-gas","category-texas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas should listen to its own scientific task force about methane - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2017\/06\/27\/texas-should-listen-to-its-own-scientific-task-force-about-methane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas should listen to its own scientific task force about methane - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post originally appeared on TribTalk.org.\u00a0 A\u00a0new report\u00a0from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) Shale Task Force underscores the problem of methane emissions from Texas\u2019 oil and gas industry. 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