{"id":17826,"date":"2018-05-11T17:40:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=17826"},"modified":"2018-05-15T13:06:23","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T17:06:23","slug":"why-and-how-were-zeroing-in-on-methane-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2018\/05\/11\/why-and-how-were-zeroing-in-on-methane-in-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Why and how we\u2019re zeroing in on methane in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Recently, some in the oil and gas industry have expressed questions about an EDF analysis<\/a> that estimates methane emissions in Pennsylvania to be five times higher than what companies report to the state.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania is the nation\u2019s second largest producer of natural gas. Understanding how much methane and other harmful pollutants may be leaking from the state\u2019s oil and gas infrastructure is critical to protecting our health and our environment.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things to know about EDF\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our analysis is one of the few that is specific to the unique landscape in Pennsylvania. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For our review, we relied on peer-reviewed research conducted directly at well sites in Pennsylvania. Some in the oil and gas industry have suggested we should have used a more comprehensive data set to inform our analysis. One recent critique suggested some of the peer-reviewed research EDF has conducted in other parts of the country<\/a> could have been useful in sharpening this analysis.<\/p>\n

The issue here is that our goal for this project was to refine the picture of methane emissions in Pennsylvania \u2013 not the country as a whole. The volume and characteristics of gas that companies extract in Pennsylvania are different than those of gas found in Texas or elsewhere. We wanted our analysis to draw specifically on measurements collected from well sites in Pennsylvania in order to establish a unique representation of Pennsylvania\u2019s pollution levels.<\/p>\n

The peer-reviewed study<\/a> EDF based its analysis on is one of the only studies to date that specifically measures methane from both conventional and unconventional well sites in Pennsylvania. For this study, the research team measured emissions from well sites over several hour-long periods in order to assess whether methane emissions were episodic or ongoing. Additionally, while companies granted the research team permission to access the sites, they were not permitted to modify their normal operations to alter the methane readings, producing a more accurate view of daily emissions.<\/p>\n

Accounting for all sources of oil and gas methane pollution is critical, so that\u2019s what we did<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One reason EDF\u2019s analysis found higher emissions levels is partly due to the fact that the state\u2019s accounting is incomplete.\u00a0 The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection only requires \u201cunconventional\u201d wells to report their pollution, whereas our analysis looked at emissions from all well sites \u2013 conventional and unconventional — because all emissions matter.<\/p>\n

But even if you don\u2019t include emissions from conventional wells (which are a huge source of the industry\u2019s methane pollution), emissions are still twice as high<\/a> as what companies report.<\/p>\n

EDF\u2019s estimate is conservative \u2013 folding in methodologies and findings from other research would have yielded even higher emissions estimates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The leak rate reported through this analysis is consistent with\u00a0recent top-down, aircraft-based studies<\/a> conducted in Northeast Pennsylvania \u2013 which is dominated by high producing, unconventional dry gas wells. Those studies estimated methane loss rates between .3 and .36 percent of production– similar to the loss rate reported in our analysis.<\/p>\n

If we had used a leak rate consistent with some of the other peer-reviewed research collected in other parts of the country, our analysis would have reported a much higher volume of emissions, not a lower one, as the American Gas Association suggests.<\/p>\n

However, looking at leak rates alone \u2013 outside of the context of the total volume of region\u2019s methane pollution \u2013 can provide a lopsided view of methane emissions. This is why we reported both on leak rate, and the total volume of emissions compared to state estimates, which demonstrates methane is a significant problem in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

In conclusion\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

We agree that better science ultimately increases understanding of methane emissions from natural gas systems and leads to better public policy. That\u2019s precisely what we did with this analysis.<\/p>\n

EDF\u2019s analysis is a reflection of the most recent, most comprehensive field measurements conducted in Pennsylvania to date. We\u2019ve made our data and methodologies public, so any one can recreate our findings. We look forward to working with forward-thinking oil and gas companies \u2013 as we have in the past \u2013 to find effective, affordable ways to solve industry\u2019s methane emissions challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, some in the oil and gas industry have expressed questions about an EDF analysis that estimates methane emissions in Pennsylvania to be five times higher than what companies report to the state. Pennsylvania is the nation\u2019s second largest producer of natural gas. Understanding how much methane and other harmful pollutants may be leaking from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126260,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55717,693],"tags":[34728],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-17826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-methane-2","category-natural-gas","tag-pennsylvania"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy and how we\u2019re zeroing in on methane in Pennsylvania - 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\/2018\/05\/11\/why-and-how-were-zeroing-in-on-methane-in-pennsylvania\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why and how we\u2019re zeroing in on methane in Pennsylvania - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently, some in the oil and gas industry have expressed questions about an EDF analysis that estimates methane emissions in Pennsylvania to be five times higher than what companies report to the state. 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