Tag: Methane

Thousands of Oil, Gas Wells Need to Be Capped, and This is How Congress Can Help

West Virginia has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells that need to be capped.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has identified more than 4,000, some of them more than a century old.

The wells contaminate soil and groundwater and release methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

According to federal estimates, the methane released from these wells annually is equivalent to burning as much oil as the nation produces in a day.

A bipartisan infrastructure bill the U.S. Senate approved over the summer would provide about $4.7 billion to cap these problem wells.

The House of Representatives has not yet voted on the legislation. It’s tied up because lawmakers are still negotiating the size and scope of President Joe Biden’s jobs plan.

Ted Boettner, senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, says the bill would benefit West Virginia’s economy and environment.

“This infrastructure bill offers an enormous opportunity for the state of West Virginia and Appalachia as a whole to plug thousands of wells and put thousands of people to work,” he said, “and address climate change.”

But is the state’s inventory of orphaned oil and gas in the state accurate? Boettner said the actual number could be staggering.

“The real answer to that question is we don’t exactly know,” he said, “because we’ve never tried to go out and document all of them.”

Some wells are so old, there’s no documentation of their existence. The state has limited resources to track the ones it knows about, much less find others.

“In West Virginia, there could be hundreds of thousands of them,” Boettner said. “So it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.”

Orphaned wells can be costly to fix. Boettner says on average, it costs $55,000 to cap a well, usually with concrete. Depth is a major factor driving the cost.

Horizontally drilled wells, like those used to produce oil and gas through hydraulic fracturing, could cost as much as $250,000 each.

While the state has a program to deal with abandoned wells, it’s small relative to the size of the problem.

In the long term, Boettner calls for the creation of a program for oil and gas wells similar to the Abandoned Mine Lands fund. The fund is supported by a tax on coal production.

A fee on oil and gas extraction could support a fund to cap oil and gas wells, he says.

For now, West Virginia will need to rely on the help that’s in the infrastructure bill.

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. 

EPA Proposes Methane Rule for Oil and Gas Industry

The federal Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule this week that would regulate methane gas pollution in the oil and gas industry. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the Obama administration wants to see emissions cut in half over the next decade.

The EPA reports methane gas is the “second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States by human activities.” While its lifespan in the atmosphere is shorter than other gases, the EPA says, “pound for pound, the comparative impact of methane on climate change is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide in a 100 year span.”

“Today, through our cost-effective proposed standards, we are underscoring our commitment to reducing the pollution fueling climate change and protecting public health while supporting responsible energy development, transparency and accountability,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

Environmental lawyer Harry Weiss explains that the proposed rule builds on regulations issued in 2012.

“This rule is meant to extend that regulation to the transmission of natural gas from the well to the interstate pipelines and to market,” Weiss said.

The new rule would only apply to new or modified natural gas wells. Officials estimate it would cost industry between three and five-hundred million dollars, with reduced health care costs and other benefits totaling around 500-million dollars.

As for the legality of the proposed rule?

“The Obama Administration is under order of the supreme court to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” Weiss said. “That was  case known as Massachusetts  v. EPA.”

Weiss says litigation is likely after the rule is finalized later next year. He says some states may already have methane emission regulations in place. West Virginia is not among those states, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Reactions

West Virginia’s senators in Washington, Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore-Capito, have both released statements saying they strongly disapprove of the rule. Both say the oil and gas industry will be unduly harmed.

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) issued the following statement:

“This latest round of EPA regulations is unnecessary. Natural gas producers have cut methane emissions 38 percent since 2005, while increasing production 35 percent, through existing regulations and voluntary industry programs and innovation. EPA’s own data shows that methane emissions from natural gas drilling have gone down significantly over the last decade despite the rapid rise in production. Yet, the administration continues its crusade against fossil fuels regardless of its own data and the threat to jobs and affordable energy for American families. Natural gas is a large and vital part of West Virginia’s economy, especially with our coal industry under attack. However, these new methane mandates threaten to impede natural gas development and job growth in the Mountain State. I will continue working with my colleagues to rein in the administration’s unrelenting overreach and strike a balance between protecting our environment and allowing states like West Virginia to seize the opportunity of our vast natural gas resources.”

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) issued the following statement: 

“More overreach from the EPA is the last thing we need right now. This Administration has already taken an ax to our coal jobs, and now it is targeting our thriving natural gas industry, which has already made significant progress in reducing methane emissions. By overregulating natural gas production, these unnecessary EPA regulations will raise costs, threaten jobs and make it difficult for us to move forward on a very promising resource. As I always have, I will continue to fight these harmful EPA rules and promote an all-of-the-above energy policy so that we can continue to develop our natural resources, achieve energy independence and save good-paying jobs.”

Corky DeMarco of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association told Metro News:

“The reduction of methane emissions that EPA put out today is just another assault on fossil fuel production. While natural gas production has increased by nearly 40 percent since 2007, this same industry has reduced methane emissions, without mandatory limits being imposed by over 35 percent.”

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection hasn’t issued an official statement in reaction to the rule, but officials confirm West Virginia doesn’t have specific regulations for methane emissions. Spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater notes that, “part of the proposal establishes draft control technology guidelines for additional control measures for sites located in non-attainment areas. Also, in [West Virginia] state code 22-6 and 22-6a, there are provisions that prevent the waste of gas — which we interpret to mean that the Office of Oil and Gas can require operators to fix leaking wells.”

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