{"id":5190,"date":"2013-10-04T14:39:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T14:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=5190"},"modified":"2013-10-04T20:18:03","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T20:18:03","slug":"americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/10\/04\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans For Tax Reform: Another Group That Offers Spin Over Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This commentary originally appeared on Forbes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here we go again.\u00a0 In recent weeks, we have seen both\u00a0Senator David Vitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard<\/a>\u00a0attempt to mischaracterize the results of the groundbreaking University of Texas at Austin (UT)\u00a0methane emissions study<\/a>, preferring self-serving sound bites over an honest read of the data.\u00a0 And now we are seeing another misinformation campaign coming from Americans for Tax Reform.<\/p>\n

In his\u00a0October 2nd\u00a0Forbes op-ed<\/a>, Christopher Prandoni, Federal Affairs Manager for Americans for Tax Reform,\u00a0<\/em>uses the UT study to disparage new efforts by the State Department to address methane leakage from the natural gas system.\u00a0 Prandoni wrongfully claims that\u00a0the UT study \u201ccalculated that average emissions were almost 50 times lower than Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates,\u201d and that nothing further needs to be done about methane emissions.<\/p>\n

Prandoni\u2019s read of the UT study results couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\u00a0 Total emissions from the production sector were found to be\u00a0in line<\/em>\u00a0with the current EPA estimates, not 50 times lower.\u00a0 Yes, the UT study did report some good news.\u00a0 Methane emissions from the stage of extraction known as well completions were lower than EPA estimates.\u00a0 Unfortunately for Prandoni\u2019s argument, these lower-than-expected results were because of new green completion technologies (an emissions control method that routes excess gas to sales), soon to be required by the EPA for all new hydraulically-fractured natural gas wells.<\/p>\n

Other measurements taken by the UT study team were actually higher than EPA estimates.\u00a0 Methane emissions associated with equipment used to control routine operations at well sites were 63 percent higher than current EPA estimates.\u00a0 Fugitive methane emissions \u2014 unintentional leaks from piping, valves, separators and compressors \u2014 were 38 to 69 percent higher.\u00a0 And emissions from chemical injection pumps used at the wellhead to keep pipelines flowing were 100 percent higher than EPA estimates.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve cautioned since its release, the UT study measured only the production sector, and is not the final word on methane emissions from the entire natural gas supply chain.\u00a0 It\u2019s just the\u00a0opening chapter<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, there is some good news in the data, but counter to what Prandoni and Americans for Tax Reform would have the public believe, its news that supports the ongoing efforts of the EPA and the natural gas industry to reduce methane emissions.\u00a0 The State Department got it exactly right and it is time for the Obama Administration to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This commentary originally appeared on Forbes. Here we go again.\u00a0 In recent weeks, we have seen both\u00a0Senator David Vitter\u00a0and\u00a0American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard\u00a0attempt to mischaracterize the results of the groundbreaking University of Texas at Austin (UT)\u00a0methane emissions study, preferring self-serving sound bites over an honest read of the data.\u00a0 And now we …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[693],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-gas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmericans For Tax Reform: Another Group That Offers Spin Over Science - 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\/2013\/10\/04\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans For Tax Reform: Another Group That Offers Spin Over Science - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This commentary originally appeared on Forbes. Here we go again.\u00a0 In recent weeks, we have seen both\u00a0Senator David Vitter\u00a0and\u00a0American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard\u00a0attempt to mischaracterize the results of the groundbreaking University of Texas at Austin (UT)\u00a0methane emissions study, preferring self-serving sound bites over an honest read of the data.\u00a0 And now we ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/10\/04\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-04T14:39:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-04T20:18:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2013\/04\/Mark-Brownstein-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Brownstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MarkSBrownstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Brownstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Brownstein\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da32b35f88d76761f9999da3c096ec38\"},\"headline\":\"Americans For Tax Reform: Another Group That Offers Spin Over Science\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-04T14:39:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-04T20:18:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":416,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/Mark-Brownstein-199x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Natural Gas\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/americans-for-tax-reform-another-group-that-offers-spin-over-science\\\/\",\"name\":\"Americans For Tax Reform: Another Group That Offers Spin Over Science - 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