Air Quality

Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell

Details for Shell Ethane Cracker Revealed in Air Pollution Application
August 25, 2014August 25, 2014

We now have a very detailed, inside look at Shell’s proposed ethane cracker plant. In May, Shell filed an Air Quality Plan Approval application with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. The 715-page document (just now coming to light, full copy embedded below)–mammoth in scope and size–lays out, in detail, just how much air pollution the proposed ethane cracker would produce. As part of that document we gain insight into the technology Shell plans to use at the plant. The application also outlines other potential impacts from the plant, including soil and vegetation. The application concludes that the proposed plant emissions “are not expected to result in adverse effects to soils, crops, or plant species of concerns, within the vicinity of the project site”…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

DOE Releases “New Initiatives” to Cut Fugitive Methane
July 30, 2014July 30, 2014

The Department of Energy (DOE) under the guidance of Secretary Ernest “Hair” Moniz, at the direction of the White House, has been on a fools errand to cut down on methane emissions, claiming such emissions are a “potent greenhouse gas” (although the earth isn’t actually warming). Still, when the boss says jump, you say, “How high?” So the DOE has been conducting methane round tables with various environmental and industry participants to try and figure out how they can regulate methane emissions to cut them down to size. The fifth and final round table was held and yesterday Sec. Moniz and the DOE issued several new initiatives to help cut down on methane emissions, part of the larger Obama Administration “Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions”…
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Washington County

Anti-Drilling Group Distributes Air Monitors, Calls it Research
July 21, 2014July 21, 2014

The Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project (SWPA-EHP) is an anti-drilling organization with a mission to prove what no one has been able to prove (after thousands of shale wells have been drilled): that Marcellus drilling makes you sick. They tried once before with a statistically invalid “survey” of 27 people (see Health “Study” of Whopping 27 People Blames Drilling for Symptoms). They’re back, trying again. This time they’ve handed over “over 100” air monitoring devices around Washington County, PA in another laughable attempt to “prove” that drilling makes you sick…
Read More “Anti-Drilling Group Distributes Air Monitors, Calls it Research”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain | Washington County

Methane Detection Company – Sensitive Enough to Detect Cow Farts
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Yet another example of a company in a far-flung industry that’s finding success by selling a service to the Marcellus drilling industry. Cherokee Helicopter Service in Washington County, PA is working with drillers and midstream companies to detect pipelines and drilling operations that leak methane. The equipment used by Cherokee is so sensitive, it can detect a single cow farting…
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Air Quality | Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Attack of the Drones: Using UAVs to Make Marcellus Safer?
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Drones–model airplanes and model helicopters with cameras (or bombs) strapped onto them are all the rage. Even in shale-land! A small start-up company in Pittsburgh is manufacturing quadcopters (a model helicopter with four rotors) that can be used to fly along pipeline routes, carrying equipment to sniff out potential methane leaks. According the the inventor, it’s a lot less expensive than flying a real helicopter along a pipeline or sending people by foot…
Read More “Attack of the Drones: Using UAVs to Make Marcellus Safer?”
Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Google Spy Car Colludes with EDF to Map “Leaky” Methane Pipelines
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Apparently Google wasn’t content with snooping on your private home computer network, grabbing your passwords and online activity as their spy car sneaked down highways and city streets supposedly taking pictures for Google Maps (see Google Loses Appeal in Street View Snooping Case). Google and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) colluded to secretly outfit Google’s spy cars with so-called methane leak detectors to monitor methane leaking into the atmosphere because, you know, methane causes (don’t laugh) man-made global warming (*cough* most brutal winter in the past 25 years followed by a cooler-than-normal summer *cough*). EDF decided to out themselves and Google with the following press release:
Read More “Google Spy Car Colludes with EDF to Map “Leaky” Methane Pipelines”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Supreme Court Tells EPA: You Can’t Just Rewrite Law
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

One of the Obama administration’s favorite tactics to do illegal end-runs around Congress (remember–Congress writes the laws, the President enforces them) is to have rogue agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency claim sweeping powers under older/existing laws. Like the Clean Air Act. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court yanked on the EPA’s leash pretty hard and said, “Heal boy, sit down.” The EPA tried to simply rewrite a law passed by Congress in how the agency treats so-called greenhouse gases. The EPA didn’t like what Congress wrote, so they rewrote it. The justices said, “No, you can’t do that,” to the EPA. However, as Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out from the bench, the EPA still got almost all of what it wanted in this decision…
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About MDN | Air Quality | Allegheny County | Anadarko | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | MDN Resources | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Regulation | TEEMCO | Video

OGA 7: Panel Discussion – Environmental Protection
May 21, 2014May 20, 2014
Panel IV: Environmental Protection, Regulation and Compliance
- Specifying the bodies responsible for drilling & pipeline regulation in the Marcellus and Utica
- Evaluating efforts to overcome negative views of shale development by groups such as the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD)
- Preparing for the new EPA air pollution rules for drillers in 2015 – what do companies need to do to achieve compliance
- Tips for better soil erosion control with well pad and pipeline construction
- Assessing the industry impact on local wildlife: how can companies avoid permanently harming species and their habitats?
- Presenting results from the PA DEP air pollution study
- Evaluating the impact of radiation in shale cuttings and best practice for their management and disposal
- Does radon level in Marcellus Shale pose a health risk for consumers who burn gas?
- Debating the role the federal government should play in regulating shale drilling
- Discussing the potential impact of the proposed changes to the Chapter 78 regulations
- Detailing the requirements in the Rocky Mountains for sourcing, recycling and disposing of water
Moderator: Michael L. Krancer, Energy, Petrochemical and Natural Resources Practise Group Leader, Blank Rome LLP
Speakers: Nathan S. Bennett, Regulatory Manager, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Greg Lorson, Chief Executive Officer, TEEMCO
Scott Perry, Deputy Secretary, Office of Oil and Gas Management, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Read More “OGA 7: Panel Discussion – Environmental Protection”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries
May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Like an athlete overdosing on steroids to pump up his body mass, the EPA is injecting the Clean Air Act with an equivalent of steroids in order to make itself the regulator of oil and gas in the U.S., countermanding the U.S. Constitution. The latest egregious attempt at a federal takeover comes from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who announced yesterday a “proposed” new rule for air monitoring around “refineries”. The proposed new rule (full copy below) is 813 pages long. You know when it’s 813 pages long, it’s going to cost a lot of people a lot of money…
Read More “EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

New PA Regs Limiting NOx/VOC Likely Affect Compressor Stations
April 25, 2014April 25, 2014

The Babst Calland law firm has put out an alert that proposed new rules recently issued by the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board to require “reasonably available control technology” (RACT) will affect “hundreds of facilities” that produce nitrogen oxides (NOx) or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), requiring them to spend money and install new equipment. There are nine source categories covered by the new rule, and although none of those categories say “compressor stations,” one of them is “turbines” which may cover compressor stations. At any rate, pipeline compressor stations are a major source of NOx and VOCs and will almost certainly be affected by the coming changes.

Here’s the Administrative Watch for the RACT proposed rules, issued by the legal beagles at Babst Calland:
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Accidents | Air Quality | Chevron | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

DEP Says Residents Not Exposed to Pollutants in Chevron Well Fire
April 24, 2014April 24, 2014

You may recall the Chevron well fire in Greene County, PA that resulted in the death of one contract worker on February 11th (see Chevron Well Fire Update: 2nd Well Capped, Work on 7 Wells Stopped). Soon after the fire began, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP started measuring and testing in the area–to ensure nearby residents and first responders were not being exposed to unsafe pollutants. They sampled both upwind and downwind for 57 different toxic air pollutants. The DEP did find elevated levels for some pollutants, but (thankfully) nothing that would threaten the health of those in the area.

Below are the results of the testing along with the DEP announcement in releasing the results.
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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Devastating Critique of New Ingraffea/Howarth Methane Study by EID
April 16, 2014April 16, 2014

Yesterday MDN highlighted a new “study” that purports to say methane is leakin’ out all over the place when shale wells are drilled (see Another Day, Another Sham Study on Marcellus Methane Leaks). MDN was not the only pro-drilling publication to notice the release of the study–and to question it’s sham “research.” The always excellent Energy in Depth took a close look and wrote a devastating article that rips the veneer off this latest anti-drilling effort to cast doubt on natural gas drilling in our country.

Have a look at EID’s “Five Facts about Ingraffea and Howarth’s Latest Methane Study”…
Read More “Devastating Critique of New Ingraffea/Howarth Methane Study by EID”
Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Another Day, Another Sham Study on Marcellus Methane Leaks
April 15, 2014April 15, 2014

This one is rich. Apparently Cornell anti-drilling professor (and erstwhile stand-up comic) Tony Ingraffea’s name is so toxic when it comes to discredited research, that when he’s part of yet another sham “study” on methane (as in a new one released yesterday), his name doesn’t even come up in the official press release. Neither does his partner in crime Robert Howarth. Both have authored previous “studies” that were completely refuted as junk science. Their names are tucked away in the list of esteemed authors for a new study titled, “Toward a better understanding and quantification of methane emissions from shale gas development” (abstract below). This latest fiasco was published yesterday on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website. In a nutshell, the “researchers” flew a plane over gas drilling operations in Pennsylvania to collect and analyze samples, looking for that evil fugitive from justice (and causer of global warming)–methane. The so-called study’s findings? There’s a whole lotta methane leakin’ out down they’a. But it gets better.

You might think an evaluation of methane coming from rocks would include at least one geologist–you know, the scientists that study rocks? For this study, the two lead authors are a chemistry professor (from Purdue University) and an evolutionary biologist (from Cornell). Not one geologist in the entire list. We wonder–did these smarter-than-the-rest-of-us researchers take into account that herd of cattle grazing near the drill site? You do know that cows burping and farting produce more methane per year than oil and gas operations, according to our own federal EPA, right? (See: Biggest Producer of “Fugitive” Methane is… Cows?!). Did our eager beaver researchers take into account all those belching/flatulating bovines as they were flying around the PA countryside with loads of farms?…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH EPA Issues New Regs for Drillers, Looks for “Fugitive” Methane
April 7, 2014April 7, 2014

On Friday the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) lowered the boom on shale drillers in the state. Although it’s been expected for some time, the OEPA suddenly issued new rules under their General Permit Program that require drillers to use infrared cameras to scan equipment being used at drill sites once per quarter. For what? Methane, of course. So called “fugitive methane” that, you know, contributes to mythical global warming (that doesn’t really exist). Oh the “fugitive” methane may exist–a little bit. But it’s tie to causing non-existent global warming has never been proven. Makes no difference. All the Kool Aid drinkers are so convinced of a tie between methane and warming that it’s an article of scientific faith now–it’s “scientific consensus” so that means it’s real (at least in their minds). Never mind that said drillers are in the business of capturing as much methane as they can because every atom of it they grab they can sell. But hey, such brutal common sense doesn’t play well with the warmists. Nasty drillers can’t be trusted to do a good job.

The Environmental Defense Fund, the least offensive of the environmentalist wacko groups, was positively gushing with praise for OH Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich and his Republican administration for implementing the new standards–especially since Republicans are such evil, vile things, ya know. Somehow those Republicans swerved into the doing something good for a change, according to the EDF…
Read More “OH EPA Issues New Regs for Drillers, Looks for “Fugitive” Methane”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

PA DEP Releases 2012 Air Emissions from Drilling/Pipelines Report
April 4, 2014April 4, 2014

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) released their annual natural gas drilling emissions inventory data report. The data tabulates air pollution from drilling and pipelines for all of 2012 and came from 56 Marcellus Shale drillers covering 8,800 natural gas wells and from 70 operators of 400 compressor stations, which received gas from Marcellus Shale and traditional oil and gas well sites. Important to note: New to the 2012 report were 250 additional compressor stations that process gas from traditional (not shale) well sites. These compressor stations were not required to report in 2011.

What does the latest report show? As you might expect, when you drill more wells and move more gas through pipelines, there’s more air pollution. However, the DEP is quick to point out that cumulatively, for all Pennsylvanians, air pollution is down–rather dramatically. Why? Because with more natural gas use in electric generating plants (replacing coal) and as a substitute for diesel fuel, overall pollution drops. Still, as MDN has pointed out on previous occasions, we must keep a close eye on air pollution in heavily drilled areas to ensure residents in those areas are not exposed to unsafe levels of pollutants. Below we have the DEP’s announcement from yesterday, a copy of the 2012 numbers, links back to the 2011 numbers (so you can compare them), and a few more thoughts on drilling and air pollution…
Read More “PA DEP Releases 2012 Air Emissions from Drilling/Pipelines Report”
Air Quality | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Ultra Petroleum

Rogue Obama EPA Goes on Methane Witch Hunt
April 2, 2014April 2, 2014

The recent Climate Action Plan to cut methane emissions emitted by the White House last week contains this ominous bullet point: “EPA will assess several potentially significant sources of methane and other emissions from the oil and gas sector. EPA will solicit input from independent experts through a series of technical white papers, and in the fall of 2014, EPA will determine how best to pursue further methane reductions from these sources.”(1) The good news is that the overbearing, out-of-control actions by the Obama EPA will only apply to drilling on federal lands. The bad news is that they will try to bully individual states to adopt the same new onerous regulations, thereby making federal regulations de facto in many locations.

Will the EPA methane witch hunt affect the Marcellus and Utica region? Too early to tell whether PA, OH and WV will cave to Obama EPA pressure. Here’s an analysis of how onerous new regulations may affect several drillers with major operations in the Marcellus…
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