greenhouse gas emissions Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Manchin, Capito Seek To Overturn Biden Vehicle Emissions Rule

The rule, made final in November, requires state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations to set declining emissions targets.

West Virginia’s U.S. Senators are pushing back on the Biden administration’s effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have co-sponsored a resolution to overturn a Federal Highway Administration rule on emissions targets.

The rule, made final in November, requires state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations to set declining emissions targets.

Both Capito and Manchin argue the agency lacks the authority from Congress to issue such a requirement.

The rule itself, though, does not specify how low the targets have to be, as long as they’re declining, and does not impose penalties on states for not meeting them.

The House of Representatives has a similar bill to overturn the rule.

WVU Researchers Study Methane Leak Prevention

Researchers at West Virginia University are set to study how methane leaks from liquid storage tanks happen, and ways to potentially stop them in the future.

The team, based out of the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions is working with research and development company Aerodyne Research to sample and monitor plumes from storage tanks.

The project is being supported by $5.5 million in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. West Virginia is the fourth-largest producer of natural gas in the country.

“As we continue to build the natural gas infrastructure, well sites, pressure sites, all of these things that infrastructure grows, there are more of these tanks out there, and they’re going to be there for a while,” project leader and WVU aerospace and engineering professor Derek Johnson said. “It does have climate implications. But also from what we’ve seen is that there are other emissions associated with that methane coming from these tanks. And those can have impacts on local air quality.”

Research suggests methane emissions are more potent than carbon dioxide in the short-term when it comes to climate change.

Johnson and his team plan to create new software to predict and report methane leaks. They will use data collected at sites in the Marcellus shale formation in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The formation accounts for around 21 percent of all gross natural gas production in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“A lot of just, unknowns or not so much data exists in this area,” Johnson said. “And some of the data that has been collected doesn’t paint a detailed picture. And some of the data is old.”
Last Thursday, WVU’s Energy Institute hosted a panel on methane leaks from the state’s oil and gas wells, and creating more state jobs that would help mitigate leaks statewide.

Sanders: Support Coal Country While Combating Climate Change

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has told voters in coal-producing Kentucky that it’s possible to be a friend of coal miners and a believer in climate change and the need for cleaner energy sources to combat it.

In blunt terms rarely heard in Kentucky’s political circles, the Vermont senator said Sunday on a stop in Kentucky that bold action is needed to confront the dangers from climate change. That course of action should include turning away from fossil fuels to curb greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, he said.

“Climate change is real,” Sanders told a crowd of supporters during a speech on Sunday in Louisville. “Climate change is caused by human activity. And climate change is causing devastating harm in our country and throughout the world.”

Sanders said he recognizes that many Kentuckians have long relied on coal mining to support their families.

“So let me be as clear as I can be, coal miners … are not my enemy,” the senator said. “Workers in the fossil fuel industry are not my enemy. Climate change is our enemy.”

Sanders vowed to help communities tied to coal and other fossil fuel industries in the transition toward clean energy production.

The development of wind, solar and other sustainable energy sources will create jobs, as will modernizing the nation’s electricity grid, he said. He pledged support for expansion of high-speed broadband service in rural regions.

“Here is my promise as we transition away from fossil fuel: we will not abandon communities that have relied on fossil fuel jobs,” he said. “We will rebuild those communities.”

Republicans made dramatic inroads in Appalachian “coal country” by tying the coal industry’s declines to increased regulations introduced during former Democratic President Barack Obama’s tenure.

Republican Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for coal helped make that region one of his most fervent bases of support as Trump racked up big wins in West Virginia, Kentucky and other states in 2016 en route to winning the presidency.

Republican National Committee spokesman Kevin Knoth said Sunday that Sanders’ platform would devastate Kentucky in part by eliminating the coal industry.

Sanders warned that failure to combat climate change will result in more extreme weather and more suffering.

“Future generations deserve a planet that is healthy and is habitable, and we have the moral responsibility to make sure that they have that kind of planet,” Sanders said.

CAFEE Publishes Data on Pump-to-Wheels Natural Gas Emissions

A study released today by the Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University examines data collected on methane emissions of natural gas engines from “pump-to-wheel,” meaning from natural gas fueling stations and heavy-duty vehicles themselves.

As natural gas vehicles become more prevalent, they have the potential to release fewer fossil fuel emissions than diesel fuel – if methane levels can be controlled. The study shows that the exhaust pipe and a part of the vehicle called the crankcase are the sources of the highest levels of methane emissions.

“Some of the methane can be arising from leaks – most of natural gas, is, in fact, methane – from leaks, from plumbing, from losses of small volumes of the gas when you’re refueling the vehicle,” said Nigel Clark, the George Berry chair of engineering at WVU and the lead author on this study. “And some of it of course can come out of the vehicle’s tailpipe as unburned fuel.”

Methane is a greenhouse gas emission and is unique to natural gas. CAFEE decided to collect data on pump-to-wheel methane emissions because much data already exists on “upstream emissions,” or emissions from the natural gas drilling process. CAFEE hopes that its data will be a reliable source of pump-to-wheel data for other researchers and the government.

“As your start to reveal the sources of the emissions, the idea would be to address the low-hanging fruit and stop some of the emissions,” Clarke said.

Clarke added that the data would allow researchers to create projections and further examine how to lower methane emissions.