pipelines

The bloated carbon footprint of LNG

November 15, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States is the world’s largest producer of natural gas. In fact, natural gas supplies approximately one third of the United States’ primary energy consumption, most of which is used to heat buildings and to generate electricity. While most natural gas is delivered in its gaseous form in this country, the demand for natural gas in international markets has given rise to the use of natural gas in a liquified form.

Liquified natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state, at about -260° Fahrenheit, for easier storage and transportation. The volume of natural gas in its liquid state is about 600 times smaller than its volume in its gaseous state, which makes it possible to transport it to places pipelines do not reach.

Liquified natural gas is considered a clean fossil fuel because burning it produces less emissions than coal and oil. However, according to a new study by researchers from Cornell University, LNG imported from the U.S. actually has a larger climate impact than any other fossil fuel—including coal – once processing and shipping are taken into account.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering, found that LNG leaves a greenhouse gas footprint that is 33% worse than coal when emissions are analyzed over a 20-year time frame.

According to the research team, there is no need for LNG as an interim energy source because the transition requires massive infrastructure expenditures. Instead, those financial resources should be used to “build a fossil-fuel-free future as rapidly as possible.”

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Liquefied natural gas carbon footprint is worse than coal

Photo, posted November 17, 2017, courtesy of Colin Baird via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The cost of methane emissions

April 26, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Stanford University-led research has determined that American oil and gas operations are emitting more than 6 million tons of methane each year. The emissions come from both intentional vents and unintentional leaks.

Methane is the main component of natural gas and losing that much of it through leakage is costing the industry a billion dollars a year just in lost revenue. Adding in the harm to the economy and human well-being caused by adding this much potent greenhouse gas to the atmosphere is estimated to increase the cost of these emissions to $10 billion a year.

These emission and cost estimates are roughly three times the level predicted by the U.S. government. The Stanford numbers are based on roughly a million aerial measurements of wells, pipelines, storage, and transmission facilities in six of the nation’s most productive oil and gas regions located in Texas, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Utah. These areas account for 52% of U.S. onshore oil production and 29% of gas production.

The survey also found that fewer than 2% of the methane emitters are responsible for 50-80% of emissions in four of the regions. It also found that midstream infrastructure – which includes gathering and transmission pipelines, compressor stations, and gas processing plants – is responsible for about half of total emissions.

While the federal government estimates that methane leakage averages about 1% of gas production, the new survey puts the number at 3%, and some regions lose almost 10% to leakage.

Better tracking and fixing these leaks – especially the larger ones – is essential for climate change mitigation.

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Methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas operations cost the nation $10 billion per year

Photo, posted June 5, 2015, courtesy of Dave Houseknecht / USGS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A First In The Climate Change Fight | Earth Wise

March 6, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Under a new initiative, builders in New Jersey will have to take climate change into account in order to win government approval for projects. New Jersey is the first state in the United States to enact such a requirement, which will leverage land-use rules to control what and where developers can build, and limit the volume of pollution.

Through executive order, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will require the state Department of Environmental Protection to draft new building regulations. The changes, to be adopted by January 2022, do not require legislative approval, but could face political and legal challenges.

Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on New Jersey and its 130 miles of coastline. According to a recent study from Rutgers University, the sea level along the New Jersey coast rose 1.5 feet since 1911, which was more than twice as much as the global average. The sea level is expected to rise by as much as another foot by 2030. At the same time, some coastal areas of New Jersey are gradually sinking.

The initiative by New Jersey comes on the heels of a Trump administration proposal which would allow federal agencies to not take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects. The federal changes are geared towards speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.

In the absence of anything resembling leadership on climate change from the federal government, it remains for states like New Jersey to continue to press ahead. In addition to the new building initiative, New Jersey also plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2050.

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Excluding Climate Change From Infrastructure Planning | Earth Wise

With 130-Mile Coast, New Jersey Marks a First in Climate Change Fight

Photo, posted August 27, 2016, courtesy of Rashaad Jorden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Excluding Climate Change From Infrastructure Planning | Earth Wise

January 14, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

According to a new Trump administration proposal, federal agencies would no longer need to take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects. The proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are aimed at speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.

Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to consider how their proposed actions would affect everything from water quality to wildlife to greenhouse gas emissions. They’re also required to understand how rising seas and other consequences of climate change might affect a given project. These requirements have proven to be an obstacle to projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, for example.

According to reporting in the New York Times, the administration also plans to narrow the range of projects that require environmental review in the first place. That could make it more likely for projects to be approved without having to disclose plans to do things like cut down trees, discharge waste, or increase air pollution.

The administration says that the changes would improve the environmental review and permitting process while ensuring a safe, healthy, and productive environment. Environmentalists say the proposed changes would weaken critical safeguards for air, water, and wildlife.

The proposed changes to NEPA would revise the rules that guide the implementation of the law, as opposed to amending the act itself. Once these proposed changes appear in the federal register, the public will have 60 days to comment on them.

A decision on whether or not to weaken the nation’s benchmark environmental law is expected before November.

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Trump Rule Would Exclude Climate Change in Infrastructure Planning

Photo, posted February 23, 2016, courtesy of Lissy Wild via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Finding Methane Leaks

September 21, 2016 By WAMC WEB

The boom in natural gas drilling by conventional methods and by fracking has led to a spike in methane emissions from pipelines, storage tanks, processing facilities, and other parts of the natural gas system. Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, so these emissions constitute waste and lost revenues. But they also represent a serious environmental problem because methane is 25 times more effective in trapping atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide.