Governor Tom Corbett has declared this week Air Quality Awareness Week. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a regulation requiring some states to limit pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states. And the American Lung Association (ALA) released its annual “State of the Air” report on Wednesday.
The ALA report found that 47 percent of U.S. residents live where the air is often too unhealthy to breathe, an increase from the previous year, and Pittsburgh and Allegheny County still find themselves on a list on which you're not itching to appear -- the Top Ten Bad Air List.
Think our air quality is bad? Well, it could get worse. In Pennsylvania, methane leakage associated with natural gas drilling is harming air quality and threatens to undo any of the potential climate benefits from using natural gas in place of other fossil fuels. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas that is 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it’s released.
So what is Pennsylvania doing to address methane leakage and air pollution from natural gas development?
While Pennsylvania has put in place new requirements that exceed minimum federal standards, a closer look shows that Pennsylvania is not doing nearly enough.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection deserves credit for requiring, as criteria to meet Exemption 38, LDAR (leak detection and repair) programs to address “fugitive emissions” at well sites and, under GP-5, at compressor stations. It’s a step in the right direction. But Pennsylvania's rules fall far short of what other states are doing -- and what is needed.
Some examples:
- In February, Colorado enacted a comprehensive suite of methane regulations for oil and gas operators – including an LDAR program that requires the bulk of operators to perform quarterly inspections and even requires monthly inspections at the largest well sites.
- Right next door, Ohio recently revised its general permit that requires drillers of unconventional oil and gas wells to conduct quarterly LDAR inspections – in contrast to the once-a-year requirement for Pennsylvania well operators to qualify under Exemption 38.
- Last fall, Wyoming also implemented a new presumptive BACT requirement that includes quarterly inspections and repairs.
While Colorado has in place a comprehensive regulatory framework to address methane emissions and Ohio recently revised its general permit for unconventional oil and gas wells to include quarterly leak detection and repair requirements (LDAR), Pennsylvania is lagging in placing mandatory controls on natural gas drilling.
Pennsylvania should require a mandatory and rigorous permitting process. Instead of being in Ohio's rear view mirror, we should be leading the charge by going one step further and directly regulating methane emissions in the name of cleaner air and public health.
Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in our Philadelphia office. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.
