Air Quality

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

White House Pledges to Cut “Fugitive” Methane by 40-45%
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

The Barack Hussein Obama administration continues to push its agenda on so-called Climate Change by ramming through unlegislated regulatory actions that threaten the oil and gas industry. The latest Obama boogeyman is that evil, nasty criminal–“fugitive methane.” Supposedly methane (natural gas to the hoi polloi) is a bazillion times more “potent” as a “greenhouse gas” than it’s less nefarious cousin CO2 (carbon dioxide, the stuff you breathe out with every breath). Of course it’s in the best interest of energy companies that extract, pipeline and sell methane to keep as much of it as possible in “the system” and from “escaping” so they can sell it–a fact that seems to escape the our brilliant leader. Inevitably, some methane molecules slip out around valves, through cracks, etc. and into the atmosphere where, according to Obama, it acts to heat Mother Earth. Never mind the average temperature of the earth hasn’t gone up for 18 years now (see Inconvenient Global Warming Fact: Avg Temp Hasn’t Risen in 18 Yrs). Right on cue the President, who persists in shredding the Constitution, is about to feed the next sheet into the shredder by having his EPA issue new regulations to control methane emissions. They claim they can cut methane emissions 40-45% by 2025…
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Air Quality | Health Impacts | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Launches 5-Year Study of Local Frack Site for Air, Noise, H&S
January 13, 2015January 13, 2015

This is very cool. A West Virginia University professor, now interim chairman of WVU’s School of Public Health (Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences), is going to perform some REAL science. Dr. Michael McCawley is someone we’ve highlighted before. He’s done some excellent research on air quality near drill sites (see WVU Prof Keeps Up Pressure on Improved Air Quality at Drill Sites). Dr. McCawley is launching the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL)–a project that will drill a test well and provide real-time air, noise, occupational safety and health monitoring over a five-year period. It is one of three such projects approved and funded (in part) by the U.S. Dept. of Energy…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NJ Residents Breathing Easier Thanks to PA Marcellus Shale
December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

New Jersey has, for decades, not met federal air quality standards. And although NJ continues to not meet some of those standards, they have just been told by the feds they now pass for one very important air standard: the standard for particulates in the air. Particulates are tiny bits of solid and liquid droplets in the air that come from soot, pollen and other sources. Gov. Chris Christie (Rhino, er, a, RINO) has pulled a muscle in his arm patting himself on the back taking credit for the news. The truth is, NJ’s lower particulate count has virtually nothing to do with NJ itself and is mostly due to, yes, the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale…
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Air Quality | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues

ExxonMobil to EPA: We Don’t Need New Methane Regulations
December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

The oil and gas industry, including shale drillers, continue to wait on pins and needles for the jack boots of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to come down on their necks with new “rules” (i.e. laws from the Executive Branch, never sanctioned by a vote in the Legislative Branch) on methane emissions that supposedly come from oil and gas drilling. The EPA is desperately trying to regulate that which Constitutionally belongs to the states to regulate: oil and gas drilling. The latest word from nameless/faceless “sources” at the EPA is that they will wait until “after the holidays” to release these onerous new rules. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, on their Perspectives blog site, points out shale drilling has already led to some of the lowest methane emissions in decades. They say shale drilling is “delivering in spades” when it comes to reducing methane emissions–so why are new rules from the EPA needed at all? It’s a great question from the largest oil and gas company in the U.S….
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Clock Ticking for Comment on EPA Rule on Greenhouse Gas Reporting
December 11, 2014December 10, 2014

Two weeks ago MDN gave E&P and midstream companies a heads-up that another onerous new “rule” (i.e. law) is coming from the out-of-control Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that requires energy companies to file greenhouse gas emissions reports for just about everything–wellpads, pipelines, compressor stations (see EPA Issues New Rules for O&G Industry on GHG Emissions Reporting). A whole new level of reporting is coming at you. On Tuesday the EPA published their proposed rule change in the Federal Register (copy below)…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Sand/Proppant | Wyoming County (PA)

Deuling Air Quality Studies for NEPA Frac Sand Transfer Station
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

MDN has tracked the case of a proposed D&I Silica (owned by Hi-Crush Partners) frac sand transfer facility in Tunkhannock (Wyoming County), PA and some of the ins and outs along the way. D&I is ready to build the facility but lacks one important permit–from the county. So D&I has sued to get it (see NEPA Town Residents Resist Frack Sand Transfer Station). That lawsuit was settled in November and construction will now go forward. We recently brought you a report from a resident and long-time reader of MDN on the situation (see Revisiting Frac Sand Facility Controversy in Tunkhannock, PA). We have a new update: Both the county and the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) are proposing air quality studies to ensure nearby residents are not exposed to silica dust which acts a lot like asbestos particles and can, in the most extreme cases, can cause lung cancer. The question is, whose study will get done, or will taxpayers pay for both studies?…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Research: Fugitive Methane Declines, Without Onerous EPA Regs
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Play along for a minute. Pretend you believe that carbon (the thing you breathe out with every breath) and so-called “fugitive” methane (rascally devil escapes from oil and gas drilling operations) are causing the earth’s temp to spike. We know, we know. The earth’s average temp hasn’t gone up in 18 years–but we said, just play along here for a minute, k? If you’re a man-causes-global warming believer, it stands to reason you’d like to see less carbon and less methane. Both are already happening–without the jackbooted regulations of the federal EPA. The latest evidence is tabulated by Energy in Depth, the public relations arm of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). EID’s report tabulates the latest science which shows fugitive methane emissions in major shale plays–including the Marcellus and Utica–have gone DOWN, significantly–from 2011 to 2013…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Says Compressor Stations Not Major Source of GHG Pollution
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Good news for midstream operators in Pennsylvania: The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection has decided not to slap compressor stations with the onerous regulatory label of being a “major source” of air pollution simply because they belch out carbon dioxide–the stuff you breathe out with every breath. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June said environmental regulators can require facilities to limit GHGs only if the facility also emits other nasty stuff, like soot and smog. Since compressor stations don’t emit high volumes of soot and smog, the plants are off the hook as being a “major source” in PA…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Faux “Research” on Air Emissions Near Frack Sites
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

We think there needs to be more scientific/objective studies done on air quality and emissions near drilling sites and compressor stations–you get no argument from us on that score. We suspect there are some problems and issues with air emissions from shale drilling and compressor stations–but we’d like some hard evidence to prove or disprove that suspicion. Yesterday a new study was published in the online journal Environmental Health. The new study, titled “Air concentrations of volatile compounds near oil and gas production: a community-based exploratory study” (full copy embedded below) concludes: “Air concentrations of potentially dangerous compounds and chemical mixtures are frequently present near oil and gas production sites.” The big red flag is that the study is based on “data” collected by anti-drilling “volunteers” who have skin in the game. The data was not collected by impartial, objective scientists. The authors of the “study” are themselves rabid anti-drillers. This is the latest in a long line of “research studies” that is scientific GIGO: garbage in, garbage out…
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Western Study IDs Drill Site Equipment that Pollutes Most
October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

An ongoing issue for shale drilling is the seeming conundrum that although we’re burning more natural gas and therefore the air, on average, is cleaner–the air is not cleaner in heavily drilled counties. We’ve seen studies in Pennsylvania (see PA DEP Report: Counties with Fracking Have More Air Pollution), West Virginia (see Did WVDEP Ignore It’s Own Research on Shale Well Air Pollution?) and now Ohio (see UC Hints Air Problems Near Drill Sites in Carroll County Research) that tell us where there’s drilling, there’s far more air pollution. This is an important issue that isn’t going away. Two days ago researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say they’ve identified what, precisely, is doing the polluting at drilling sites…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Research

Abioitic (Non-Organic) Methane Not as Rare as Once Thought
October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

Everything you thought you knew about methane (or natural gas) is about to change. Until know you (and we) thought methane is solely a byproduct of organic things that have died (or living things that smell like they’ve died!). Methane coming from rocks like shale? That shale rock is full of what was once living things that died long ago–that’s where the methane in shale comes from. Except, there are times, albeit rare, that methane in nature comes from non-organic (non-dead) sources. It comes from a chemical reaction. It’s called abiotic methane and some recent finds by an Italian geophysicist may give anti-fossil fuelers heartburn…
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Air Quality | Carroll County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Utica Shale

UC Hints Air Problems Near Drill Sites in Carroll County Research
October 22, 2014October 22, 2014

In December MDN told you about a new air quality study in Carroll County, OH, being researched by the University of Cincinnati and Oregon State University. The study will measure air quality for pollution potentially caused by local Utica Shale drilling. A good concept and worthy of everyone’s support. The only problem we had/have is that some of the volunteers helping with the project are from a local anti-drilling group (see Carroll County Anti-Drillers Eager to Help with Air Quality Study). The full results are not yet in, but preliminary results (UC won’t release any specifics), according to the AP, say that air pollution near some well sites is “higher than those in downtown Chicago”…
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About MDN | Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

MDN Quote on Obama EPA/BLM Featured in National Publication
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

A hat tip and big thank you to national conservative news/blog site The Daily Caller–a major source of news both inside and outside the Washington, DC beltway. MDN was reading a story on a topic of interest to us in The DC–about President Obama’s EPA and Bureau of Land Management waiting until after the election until they unveil more onerous new regulations on the oil and gas industry–when early in the story we spotted this quote from/reference to MDN…
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Air Quality | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

WRI Plan to Save the World from Carbon & Methane in 5 Easy Steps
October 13, 2014October 13, 2014

Another save the world fantasy report has just been released by the World Resource Institute (WRI). According to a new “study” titled “Seeing is Believing: Creating a New Climate Economy in the United States” (full copy embedded below), if you just wave the magic wand of government and create regulations to restrict carbon and methane, the world will be a better (cleaner) place, and it will cost us all a lot less. That’s the theme of the report. Complete fiction and fantasy–but then, we all like a good story, right? One helpful recommendation: capping so-called emissions of carbon (the stuff you breathe out with every breath) in 9 northeast/mid-Atlantic states will create 16,000 jobs and pump $1.6 billion into the economy. Only in liberal la la land do these kinds of statements get taken seriously. Another one: “Cost-saving” measures can reduce “waste” in existing natural gas systems, saving 25% of the methane that gets “leaked” into the atmosphere. Just adopt the EPA’s draconian rules that call for dry-seal centrifugal compressors, low-bleed pneumatic devices, and install infrared cameras everywhere to detect and repair leaks. Price tag? According to WRI, just a few measly pennies per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. No sweat. Again, only in liberal la la land do these conditions exist…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Research

Enviro Emergency: 570 Methane Plumes Discovered Along East Coast
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

You know how dangerous that filty, vile fugitive is, fugitive methane, right? “Learned” professors like Cornell’s Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea have used all sorts of money from the Park Foundation to spin out “studies” to try and convince us that too much methane from natural gas drilling is escaping into the atmosphere where it’s baking Mother Earth with global warming (even though the forecast for the next year is cooler than normal, ahem). So imagine our surprise when we saw a newly released study that says researchers have noticed more than 570 (!) methane “seeps”–places where methane is leaking pell-mell into the atmosphere–from the ocean floor along the East Coast. And just where are Howarth and Ingraffea now, when there’s a five alarm methane emergency coming from Mother Earth?…
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Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | West Virginia | Wood County

Cracker Race Continues: Odebrecht Files Remediation Application
August 26, 2014August 26, 2014

The race continues to see who will build the first multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Shell had filed, back in May, a detailed air pollution application with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for their proposed cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (see Details for Shell Ethane Cracker Revealed in Air Pollution Application). Although arriving on the scene several years after Shell’s project, Odebrecht announced last November they want to build a cracker plant near Parkersburg, WV (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). Odebrecht has now filed a similar document–a Voluntary Remediation Program application–with the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP)…
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