Does a coal-to-gas switch = bad to worse?

On August 3, 2015, President Obama announced the final rule for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Power Plan, which aims to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent by 2030.

The good news in Pennsylvania is that we're already roughly halfway to meeting that goal. A Statewide Implementation Plan will be crafted over the next year that will allow us to meet the full goal utilizing "building blocks," which include adding more renewable energy to Pennsylvania's electric generation mix and accelerating energy efficiency, increasing efficiency at coal-fired power plants, and making a switch in electric generation from coal to natural gas.

Okay, not so fast on that last one as a switch from coal to natural gas warrants a close look. Carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants is indeed a huge problem as C02 is a greenhouse gas that will warm our planet, and remain in the atmosphere, for a very long time. Centuries. Natural gas, on the other hand, is a cleaner burning fuel whose current low prices makes it an (apparent) logical choice for a coal-to-gas switch.

However, natural gas operations bring the very real issue of methane emissions as a by-product of drilling operations. Methane or CH4, the primary component of natural gas, is a far more potent greenhouse gas than coal, up to 84 times more so in the first 20 years after its release into the atmosphere. While it remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon, its planetary warming wreaks a tremendous amount of havoc in the meantime.

Photo credit: WCN 24/7 via Flickr Creative Commons

If we are to truly combat climate change, we must address both carbon and methane emissions. Simply trading one for the other accomplishes little.

Where we need to focus our energy in the battle against climate change is on renewable energy and energy efficiency. These cleaner measures will create good-paying jobs and save consumers money on their electric bills. Pennsylvania currently boasts 57,000 jobs in the clean energy sector and is poised for many more. Studies show that aggressive energy efficiency measures could drive down electricity bills by nearly 10 percent by 2030.

As the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) readies its response to the Clean Power Plan, it must also roll out strong standards that address methane emissions from both new and existing sources of natural gas operations. We cannot trade one problem for another since that will only make a bad situation worse.

Elaine Labalme is strategic campaigns director for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @NewGirlInTown.

New name, old problem, easy solution for oil and gas drillers

A series of just-published scientific studies are showing methane emissions from oil and gas operations in Texas' sprawling Barnett Shale region to be 50 percent higher than previous estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The problem of methane emissions from this industry is well known, however, this newest research, undertaken by institutions including Duke University, Penn State and Princeton, is now using the term "functional super-emitter" to better classify sites with the greatest level of emissions relative to their production. There has long been concern that diffuse and unpredictable sources are a significant part of the problem, and this has now been credibly established.

What is also well known is that this is a problem with a ready solution: frequent leak detection and repair (LDAR). As noted by Steve Hamburg of the Environmental Defense Fund in a blog post this week, "Frequency is critical...monthly inspections resulted in reducing emissions by 80 percent, while annual inspections reduced emissions by less than half."

The technology is readily available today to cut methane emissions by over 40 percent over five years for a penny per thousand feet of produced gas. However, most companies are not availing themselves of this easy fix.

Here in Pennsylvania, industry lobbyists are pleading for voluntary standards while bemoaning the perceived "operational disruption" of asking drillers to capture and sell more of their own product since methane is the main component of natural gas.

Colorado is currently the only state in the nation that directly regulates methane emissions from oil and gas operations, and insists on frequent LDAR. Pennsylvania, as a longtime oil and gas producing state and ground zero for the burgeoning Marcellus Shale play, clearly needs to follow Colorado's lead. The science is becoming ever clearer -- it is time to act.

Elaine Labalme is Strategic Campaigns Director for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh.

Seeing is believing: PublicSource and the DEP Air Emissions Inventory

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently released its Air Emissions Inventory, and our Rob Altenburg took the opportunity to break down this dense packet of data to make it more easily understood.

The folks at PublicSource, an investigative news outlet based in southwestern Pennsylvania, took it a step further by creating a series of interactive charts that address key takeaways of the DEP inventory once you take a deeper dive.

Among the items we can now see, in living color, these two stand out:

1. While methane emissions from natural gas operations have decreased statewide, the vast majority of the decline is in categories subject to federal regulation such as "green" well completions. Unregulated sources of methane emissions, such as those from pumps and dehydrators, continue to increase.

2. Six companies accounted for nearly half of all methane emissions in Pennsylvania.

Two things are clear here:

1. Regulations work as evidenced by the decline in the one category subject to federal regulation. But federal rules aren't enough -- Pennsylvania needs to directly regulate methane emissions if it wants to get a handle on this potent greenhouse gas, a climate killer that along with other toxic co-pollutants is contributing to serious public health issues.

2. A comprehensive regulatory framework on methane will ensure that ALL operators in the Commonwealth are adhering to the rules and capturing/controlling emissions. When the level of emissions varies wildly between companies, it's easy to see that we need enforceable standards.

But don't just take my word for it. You can see for yourself, clearly, at PublicSource.

Elaine Labalme is Strategic Campaigns Director at PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @NewGirlInTown.

Methane emissions: A short, easy to understand video on a climate killer

The conversation around how to deal with methane emissions is quickly heating up in Pennsylvania. As the fastest growing gas producing state in the nation, the rate of methane emissions and leaks being generated by our natural gas industry could quickly put us into climate disaster territory.

Natural gas itself is largely methane -- a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates the warming of our atmosphere and leads to more ground level ozone, or smog, which contributes to asthma attacks and lung and heart disease. Affordable technologies exist today that will allow natural gas drillers to capture and sell a great deal of the methane that's currently leaking -- and the cost is mere pennies per thousand cubic feet of gas. This is a problem that already has a solution, yet drillers refuse to act in a meaningful way. It's why we're calling for the direct regulation of methane emissions in Pennsylvania.


Methane Matters: PA Needs to Know from PennFuture on Vimeo.

The above video explains clearly what methane emissions are and why Pennsylvania must address them. Now. The health of our families, and planet, cannot afford to wait. Please share this video far and wide!

Elaine Labalme is strategic campaigns director for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @NewGirlInTown.

Fly-by: An aerial snapshot of methane emissions

As with so many scientific studies, a preponderance of evidence over a period of time tends to prove a point. That's the lens through which we should assess the study of methane emissions from natural gas drilling operations.

A recent aerial study of three drilling regions in the U.S. including the Marcellus Shale found, based on a single day of data, that methane emissions were at the low end of what other research has suggested. However, notes Mark Brownstein of the Environmental Defense Fund, it's not cause for celebration just yet as more robust studies over longer periods of time suggest methane emissions are often higher than previous estimates.


"EDF’s own studies – including two released last week looking at the transmission and storage and gathering and processing sectors of the oil and gas industry – have repeatedly shown that random leaks and malfunctions are a major source of emissions," said Brownstein. "Because these events are random, a one-day overflight will not give a full picture of emissions coming from a basin over a day, a month, or a year. What is needed is regular and ongoing monitoring."


The evidence once again speaks to the need for ongoing leak detection and repair programs like those implemented in Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming, and why Pennsylvania must show leadership by enacting strong methane regulations.

"Methane has the potential to undermine the climate benefits natural gas provides over other fossil fuels," says Brownstein. And he's right. Pennsylvania cannot afford to wait.

Elaine Labalme is director of communications for PennFuture as is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @NewGirlInTown.

BREAKING: Gov. Tom Wolf proposes a 5 percent severance tax on natgas drilling in PA

John Norbeck, acting president and CEO of PennFuture, today issued the following statement regarding Gov. Wolf's proposed 5 percent severance tax on natural gas drilling activity in Pennsylvania:

“Gov. Wolf has heeded the call of Pennsylvanians, who strongly support a severance tax on natural gas drilling in the Keystone state,” said John Norbeck, acting president and CEO of PennFuture. “Pennsylvania is currently the largest natural gas-producing state without a severance tax, and it's time that drillers pay their fair share. As the governor noted, a portion of the tax will deal with the environmental impacts of drilling, an inherently industrial activity. We urge him to also apportion funding from this tax toward renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“Pennsylvania has a history of extractive industries that have harmed the environment and left successive generations to pay for the damage. Gov. Wolf's actions today clearly show that this pattern will come to a close.

“The governor is making it clear that the rights of the citizens of Pennsylvania come first, and the Sheriff is back in town when it comes to natural gas drilling. We cheered his reinstatement less than two weeks ago of the moratorium on new drilling leases of public lands, and applaud his actions today on taxing shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Enacting a rule to control methane emissions from natural gas operations should be next on Gov. Wolf's list, a move supported by 70 percent of Pennsylvanians in a recent poll.”

Highlights from PennFuture's Post-Election Forum

Before a packed house at The Civic Club of Harrisburg, PennFuture hosted a Post-Election Forum on Energy and the Environment. Panelists included Rep. Kate Harper, Rep. Greg Vitali, PennLive's opinion editor John Micek, PennFuture President Cindy Dunn, and -- yours truly -- director of outreach, Andrew Sharp. Political scientist and pollster Dr. Terry Madonna delivered the keynote address.

If you couldn't make it, we've assembled a sampling of tweets from the event. Topics included drilling in parks, clean air, land, and water, methane regulations, and what Governor-elect TomWolf's 100-day agenda would look like.

The @WolfForPA administration will have many challenges to address viz air/water/land says @CindyDunnPA. #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

"PA has legacy of fossil fuel development that has left successive generations to deal with the impacts." --@CindyDunnPA #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

"We Pennsylvanians are rich because of our outdoor legacy. Tom Wolf supports an unambiguous moratorium on public lands leasing." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@GregVitali: @GovernorCorbett had lack of sensitivity to environmental issues, hopefully @WolfForPA will see it differently." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@RexBainbridge "Election a referendum on Corbett's mishandling of gas industry, unwillingness to tax or regulate it." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@RexBainbridge "@WolfforPA understands environmental regulation as a core issue, takes climate change seriously." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@RexBainbridge "Worthwhile to look at amount of fossil fuel subsidies we're providing in PA, it's $2.9 billion." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@GregVitali "@WolfforPA will have to make choices, tradeoffs b/c of conservative makeup of house and senate." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@RexBainbridge ""Gov-elect Wolf can institute in 1st 100 days a rulemaking for methane regulations in PA. Can do w/o legislature" #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@gregvitali "Ample reason to do methane regulations outside of legislature, by the governor. @WolfforPA wants to tighten regs" #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@terrymadonna "I've done lots of polling on natgas industry--in general, PA voters support fracking but want it done safely." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

.@terrymadonna "Voters overwhelmingly support severance tax. Also, overwhelming: Drillers, stay out of state parks." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

Audience Q: "How do enviros message more effectively?" @terrymadonna "Coalitions. Constant diligence, hard work." #PFForum
— PennFuture (@PennFuture) December 3, 2014

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.  

A new day in PA: 5 Things Governor-Elect Wolf Can Do In 100 Days

November 4 saw the election of York County businessman Tom Wolf as Pennsylvania's next governor. Voters spoke loud and clear -- they want a governor who will hold industry accountable -- and that means making drillers pay their fair share, and also enacting tough, new regulations on industry. 

During his campaign, Wolf said he would fight for a cleaner energy future -- and promised new air and water regulations on the gas industry. 

A powerful coalition of some of Pennsylvania's most prominent environmental organizations came together last week to congratulate Governor-elect Wolf and to spell out five things the governor should do in his first 100 days in office. The groups involved: Clean Water Action, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, PennEnvironment, PennFuture, and the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter

The organizations urged Governor-elect Wolf to prioritize the following during his first 100 days in office. 

• Save Pennsylvania's State Parks and Forests
• Regulate Methane and Clean Up Pennsylvania's Air
• Plan for the Future on Climate and Energy
• Let the Department of Environmental Protection Protect the Environment
• Keep Our Water Safe

Save State Parks and Forests
In 2014, Corbett overturned a 2010 executive order that created a moratorium on gas leasing in public lands managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Wolf should reinstate that order and make it clear that the order applies to both state parks and state forests, and to both surface and subsurface leases. Wolf should do everything in his power to prevent natural gas development in the Clarence Moore lands of the Loyalsock State Forest.

Regulate methane and Clean Up Pennsylvania's Air
Pennsylvania ranks among the worst states in the nation for air pollution and illnesses like asthma. Currently, Pennsylvania does not directly regulate methane pollution from natural gas operations and lags behind other states in controlling air emissions. Governor-Elect Wolf should work with DEP to directly regulate methane emissions from natural gas operations. Additionally, Pennsylvania should enact a strong "Smog Rule," to limit pollutants like nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds.  

Plan for the Future
Both state and federal laws will require Pennsylvania to adopt new plans to reduce global warming pollution in the coming years. Wolf should produce climate and energy plans based on sound science and focused on rebuilding the wind and solar industries in the state.

Let the Department of Environmental Protection Protect the Environment
Wolf can reverse Corbett's damage to the DEP's commitment and ability to enforce environmental regulations. He can start by implementing the recommendations of the state Auditor General to ensure both full transparency and strong enforcement of gas drilling rules. Wolf should overhaul the DEP's permitting process for gas drilling and create mandatory enforcement penalties to ensure that public health trumps politics and profits in gas operations. Finally, he should instruct the DEP to ban fracking waste pits, a simple way to significantly reduce the health risks of toxic fracking chemicals.

Keep Our Water Safe
The Delaware River Basin Commission currently prohibits fracking in the Delaware River Watershed, from which 15 million Americans get their drinking water. Wolf should publicly restate his support for the moratorium, seek to restore the Commission's budget, and ensure that the DRBC Commissioner from Pennsylvania works to keep our water clean. Additionally, he should push the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to launch a cumulative impact assessment of fracking on the Susquehanna watershed.

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.

VIDEO: "Methane Matters: PA Needs to Know"

You've got questions and we've got answers. What is methane? Why is it leaking from Pennsylvania's natural gas operations? Why is methane such a threat to climate change? Check out this whiteboard animation video for a helpful primer -- then share it with friends.  

Methane Matters: PA Needs to Know from PennFuture on Vimeo.

The chorus grows: Methane rules needed in PA

The threat of methane emissions from natural gas drilling has been coming into clearer focus this year, and there is real momentum for action in Pennsylvania. This past Sunday, the Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal's editorial board called on the state's next chief executive to implement new methane rules:

"Pound for pound, methane’s impact on the climate is more than 20 times greater than that of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent atmosphere-warming gas.

At the federal level, the Obama administration has made methane reduction a key element of its climate change strategy, and new federal regulations will likely take hold within a couple of years. But Pennsylvania shouldn't wait.

States like Colorado, Wyoming and Ohio are now taking the initiative to work with natural gas producers to curb methane emissions, and it’s time for Pennsylvania to follow suit.

A Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report last week found the state’s aging natural gas distribution network, including some 10,000 miles of dangerously leaky pipes, sprang more than 31,000 leaks in 2013. Those leaks can pollute our air and leach into the water table.

The natural gas industry understandably wants to maximize profit, and it’s hard to focus on the long-term financial benefit associated with preventing methane loss when you’re staring at a substantial short-term outlay of capital to implement mitigation systems.

The best way for the gas industry to reduce the amount of natural gas it leaks and vents into the atmosphere is to upgrade the infrastructure that produces, transports and stores the gas, and that’s not going to happen without it being a requirement of doing business in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania needs the economic push of natural gas. But that push can't come at the expense of the environment in general and the release of increased amounts of methane gas into the air we breathe.

Balancing the two concerns should be a critical focus of both the Corbett and Wolf campaigns."

And the chorus continues to grow. Just this week, the New York Times weighed in with a call to address methane pollution, calling this a "moment  of truth" for the gas industry. 

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.

Fifteen senators press Obama for methane standards

From Huffington Post: 

"WASHINGTON -- Fifteen senators are pressing the Obama administration to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas production, arguing that addressing methane is a "key component" of curbing planet-warming emissions. 

"Ton for ton, methane causes at least 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period," wrote the 13 Democratic senators and two Independents, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama on Friday. "Voluntary standards are not enough. Too many in the oil and gas sector have failed to adopt sound practices voluntarily, and the absence of uniform enforceable standards has allowed methane pollution to continue, wasting energy and threatening public health." 

The Environmental Protection Agency released five white papers in April looking at emissions from oil and gas operations. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday in a meeting with reporters that the agency is now in the process of developing a strategy for addressing those emissions. That strategy, which the EPA plans to release some time this fall, "will look at what tools we have and what we think are most appropriate" for addressing the matter, McCarthy said. She did not specify whether the agency would recommend voluntary measures or new regulations."

The potential for federal methane rules could be a big step in the right direction. This strategy has the potential to deliver the federal regulatory oversight that is needed to complement much-needed state efforts and make sure that all of the oil and gas industry meets basic, common-sense standards to deploy readily available technologies. 

But federal rules don't replace the need for Pennsylvania to get its methane problem under control. As the fastest growing natural gas producer in the country -- and a state that emits nearly a full percent of the world's greenhouses gases -- Pennsylvania can't afford to wait. 

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director  of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.

PA must tackle well construction, methane emissions

From the Associated Press:

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The final report from a landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, found no evidence that chemicals or brine water from the gas drilling process moved upward to contaminate drinking water at a site in western Pennsylvania.

The Department of Energy report, released Monday, was the first time an energy company allowed independent monitoring of a drilling site during the fracking process and for 18 months afterward. 

After those months of monitoring, researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas stayed about 5,000 feet below drinking water supplies. Scientists used tracer fluids, seismic monitoring and other tests to look for problems, and created the most detailed public report to date about how fracking affects adjacent rock structures.

A separate study published this week by different researchers examined drilling sites in Pennsylvania and Texas using other methods. It found that faulty well construction caused pollution, but not fracking itself.

The results of this study are not particularly surprising. Shoddy well construction -- not migrating frac fluid -- is the source of most of the problems with water contamination.

These studies don't tell the full picture of the environmental impacts of natural gas development. Air emissions -- and particularly methane leaks -- are a huge concern and must be addressed. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas and, absent adequate controls, methane leaks across the natural gas supply chain could undo many of the potential environmental benefits natural gas can have over other fossil fuels such as coal.

The bottom line is that we must address the areas of highest risk if we are to prevent damage to our land, air, and water. Tackling both methane emissions and well integrity issues is a must for Pennsylvania.

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets @RexBainbridge.

Needed: Both state and federal methane standards

From Bloomberg:

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering rules that would force oil and gas producers to cut methane emissions, its chief said, stepping up efforts to curb the most potent greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator, told investors at a New York forum today the agency will decide this year whether to issue regulations mandating emission cuts, or to rely only on voluntary steps.

“We are looking at what are the most cost-effective regulatory and-or voluntary efforts that can take a chunk out of methane in the system,” McCarthy said. “It’s not just for climate, but for air quality” reasons, she said.

Methane is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and climate advocates have said that without curbs on emissions from the oil and gas industry, President Barack Obama will fall short of his goal to cut climate-change emissions. The administration’s plan to cut methane, issued in March, said the EPA would decide whether to regulate the industry. Rules, if issued, would take effect in 2016, the government said.

The threat of methane emissions from natural gas drilling has been coming into clearer focus this year, and there is palpable momentum for action. Some states aren't waiting for the feds.

• In February, Colorado enacted a comprehensive suite of methane regulations for oil and gas operators – including an LDAR (leak detection and repair) 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.

So, what is Pennsylvania doing? Not nearly enough. Pennsylvania's methane rules fall far short of what other states are doing -- and what is needed. The potential for federal methane rules is a big step in the right direction. This strategy has the potential to deliver the federal regulatory oversight that is needed to complement state efforts and make sure that all of the oil and gas industry meets basic, common-sense standards to deploy readily available technologies. But federal rules don't replace the need for state action. As the fastest growing natural gas producer in the country -- and a state that emits nearly a full percent of the world's greenhouses gases -- Pennsylvania can't afford to wait.

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets @RexBainbridge.

State audit criticizes DEP's handling of drilling industry

Yesterday, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released his report on the Special Performance Audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The audit made clear that DEP is falling well short in its regulatory oversight of the shale gas industry. 

The Auditor General indicated that while DEP disagreed with all of its findings, the Department was willing to accept a majority of its recommendations. He also indicated that while there have been improvements since the audit began in 2013, the “telltale sign” of the audit's success would be the implementation of its 29 recommendations. 

PennFuture's Vice President, John Norbeck, released this statement on the audit: 

“While we commend the employees at DEP for their ongoing efforts to address the environmental impacts of Pennsylvania's natural gas drilling boom, it's clear that the Department is not keeping up with its statutory role. The Auditor General noted in his report eight key findings that outlined, among other concerns, the Department's failure to issue administrative orders when violations occurred, effectively allowing the industry to police itself. Further, the report noted that the Department had no clear inspection schedule for gas wells, and evidenced a startling lack of transparency and accountability. When our citizens have greater access to information about kennel inspections and restaurant inspections than they do natural gas well inspections, we have a problem.” 

“DEP is severely underfunded and understaffed at a time when the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania is experiencing substantial growth. The Corbett administration should be increasing agency staffing, not decreasing it, and ensuring that DEP employees have the necessary tools to do their jobs. Anything less is a failure of leadership. We are again issuing the call for a drilling tax that will allow for rigorous monitoring of the natural gas industry as it makes drillers more accountable for the inevitable environmental damage that will result from this industrial activity.”  

“This report could not be clearer: DEP needs additional funding, more cops on the beat, and a robust monitoring system. While other gas drilling states are pursuing world-class inspection standards, Pennsylvania is falling short. We can ill afford to let another extractive industry run roughshod over the Commonwealth. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past, mistakes for which we are still paying dearly.”

For more coverage of the audit: Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, StateImpact, Associated Press, Philadelphia City Paper.  

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's Director of Outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.

Where do #PaGov candidates stand on regulating methane from natural gas drilling?

As part of PennFuture's 2014 candidates' survey, we asked candidates how they would address methane leakage, a greenhouse gas associated with natural gas drilling. Gov. Corbett was invited to participate but did not respond. 

PennFuture: Other states have adopted strong regulations to reduce fugitive methane emissions associated with natural gas development. What is your view on the importance of controlling methane emissions from natural gas development, and what would you do as governor, if anything, to reduce methane emissions?

Tom Wolf:

Pennsylvania is a major emitter of greenhouse gas, and I know we need to adopt stricter regulations and support innovative tools for reducing our emissions, especially as the natural gas sector continues to grow. As governor, I will work with key stakeholders to set new testing and monitoring regulations, and I will work with the private sector to promote the development of new technology that quickly and effectively detects fugitive methane emissions.

Additionally, I will focus on reducing our overall greenhouse gas emissions by having Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. I will work with the initiative and the member states to set emission caps that are fair to Pennsylvania, and I will use a portion of the revenue generated from the sale of permits to invest in renewable energy technology.

Allyson Schwartz:

Controlling methane leaks at well pads and in natural gas transmission is vitally important to our communities and to slowing climate change.

As governor, I will order a comprehensive review of Pennsylvania’s existing safeguards to ensure that Pennsylvania has the strongest possible protections to prevent methane leaks, reduce air and water pollution, and ensure sound well-drilling and construction standards. I will enact the strongest possible protections, based on the best science, to reduce air pollution, limit methane leakage, and protect drinking water.

Katie McGinty:
I believe, first and foremost, that we must continue to support and push for real-time additional research on the issue. We must look at this issue from a broad spectrum including ALL of the sources associated with fugitive methane emissions. It is then critical and our responsibility to put in place a comprehensive plan to address this important issue. From cost-effective measures to monitoring and regulating, members of my administration, along with stakeholders from across the state and various industries will be tasked with providing a roadmap to reduce these emissions. In my energy plan released earlier this year, I pledged to call for the implementation of best practices to minimize the environmental footprint associated with gas development, including but not limited to: develop and enforce appropriate casing and cementing practices in well development to guard against methane migration when elected Governor.

Rob McCord:

Natural gas offers a lot of environmental benefits for electricity generation over coal, but those benefits are mitigated if the industry doesn't control fugitive emissions from the well pad or any other point along the development and transmission infrastructure. My natural gas plan specifically requires drillers to use the best technologies and practices to not only prevent methane emissions, but also to reduce emissions of other air pollutants, track and recycle wastewater, and ban flaring.

I worry that because of relatively low natural gas prices, companies do not feel they have the financial incentive to prevent emissions. While that will change as prices eventually rise, we cannot afford to wait. We also shouldn't wait to start being smarter about how we use natural gas. Persistently low gas prices also create little incentive for developers, utilities, or consumers to conserve this fuel. I want to expand energy efficiency and conservation programs under Act 129 to natural gas. More than half of all Pennsylvania homes use natural gas for heat. These consumers could be realizing tremendous savings if Pennsylvania would join the more than one dozen other states that have instituted natural gas efficiency standards.

Paul Glover:

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Hydrofracking is already damaging Pennsylvania’s water, homes and roads, through methane releases into water and air. An estimated five percent of well casings are expected to fail soon after installation. Even “properly” managed wells spread fumes. With 100,000 wells projected, we would need not only an army of field monitors but an army of incorruptible monitors backed by a DEP with courage and teeth. It will be impossible to tax fracking enough to offset the permanent damage to water, health, communities and businesses. Wells are already exploding, containment pits are leaking, and trains are derailing. Thus, a West Virginia-style catastrophe looms.

I am the only candidate for governor of Pennsylvania who would ban hydrofracking. A moratorium on fracking is merely a stay of execution. Anything less than a ban is irresponsible. Mere regulation of fracking is not mature compromise, but capitulation to greed.

Therefore, wherever current drilling contracts can’t be broken, prohibitive remediation bonds should be imposed. We should make criminally liable the chief executive of any company whose wells leak, and we should close those wells. We should ban inter-county and interstate transport of fracking fluids. We should end pipeline extension, particularly for export facilities. We should encourage township bans. I would nominate PUC commissioners who agree.

Governor's plan for leasing on state lands brings questions but no answers.

Last week, I attended the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' (DCNR) Natural Gas Advisory Committee meeting to get a first glimpse of the highly anticipated Marcellus Monitoring Report. The meeting was divided into two parts, with the second half devoted to the monitoring report and the first focusing on Governor Tom Corbett's proposal to allow further leasing of Pennsylvania’s state parks and state forests so long as there is no additional “surface disturbance.”

The governor’s proposal would require drilling of the newly leased lands to occur from adjacent private lands or from already leased state lands. Given these restrictions, representatives from the gas industry expressed serious concerns regarding the practicality and feasibility of the proposal. Essentially, the big question was: Is it really possible to not have additional surface disturbance?

Here’s why. Well pads are designed for a certain number of wells, and wells can’t be drilled like spokes in a wheel; rather, the direction of their laterals is often determined by geology. These constraints only raised more questions, e.g. can drillers request additional well pads if they’re allowed under the existing lease? Can drillers expand existing pads if that’s needed to make drilling feasible?

Industry representatives also said that some temporary disturbance will be needed, and this prompted multiple questions from committee members, including: What is temporary? How long is temporary? Does the disturbance have to be low impact? What is low impact? Would seismic testing be permitted?

All of these questions raised concerns over the value of these leases. Specifically, given the restrictions in the governor’s proposal and the limited access drillers would have, would this lack of competition devalue the leases?  

Unfortunately, none of these questions were answered, and you have to wonder: Just how well thought out was the governor’s proposal?

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Wet Gas, Pipelines, Fractionation and a Changing Landscape

The Dayton Daily News recently reported that Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners would begin expansion of the ATEX Express Pipeline in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana.  These types of projects will continue to come online in an effort to push natural gas liquids (NGL) from Southwest Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to the Gulf Coast and elsewhere, and it will be sure to change our landscape.

Most Pennsylvanians know NGL as "wet gas" - the liquids produced in association with methane. NGL production is growing by leaps and bounds in certain parts of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. As industry analysts RBN Energy explain, NGL itself does not have much value until it undergoes fractionation - the process of separating NGL into its component parts - ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane, and methane (or pure natural gas).

Once LNG is broken down, the ethane component can be used as feedstock at an olefin or cracker facility to produce ethylene, a basic building block for making plastics. This is what Shell is considering for Beaver County. The other components can be shipped to various domestic and overseas markets, such as the growing Latin American market for propane.

If the NGL cannot be fractionated, production at the well head must stop - and that is not good for companies that invested millions of dollars to purchase gas reserves. For that reason there is a rush to rapidly ramp up fractionation capacity and construct pipelines to transport LNG and various components to market.

The Enterprise pipeline is being constructed to transport NGL to Texas. Sunoco/MarkWest are constructing the Mariner West pipeline to take NGL north to a fractionation complex in Sarnia, Ontario, which will eventually deliver products throughout Canada. The Mariner East Project will take NGL from Southwest Pennsylvania to Sunoco's processing facilities on the Delaware River, and from there products will ship overseas and to other markets.

In addition to pipelines, the major Midstream companies operating in Southwest PA (MarkWest, Dominion, Williams and Chesapeake) are constructing up to eleven fractionation facilities between Moundsville, WV and Houston, PA - less than 50 miles apart.  At the same time, numerous expansion projects along the Gulf Coast are underway to increase fractionation and cracker capacity there.

These pipelines and fractionation facilities will enable NGL production from Marcellus and Utica shale to boom. According to Callie Mitchell, an RBN Energy analyst, NGL production in Southwest PA is poised to grow astronomically in the next five years - as shown on this graph - from 43 Mb/d (a meager 1.2% of US annual production) to an astounding 450 Mb/d by 2017.

Governor Corbett and others envision the processing of wet gas as a "second industrial revolution" that will "transform" all of Pennsylvania into a second Gulf Coast that doesn't just produce gas, but also processes it. In contrast, I recently heard an industry insider dismiss that vision as a "pipedream," explaining that it was much more convenient to enlarge existing facilities on the Gulf Coast, with their easy access to shipping ports and downstream markets, than to reconstruct Mont Belvieu, Texas along the Ohio River. Most likely it will be a blend - perhaps more a rowdy party than a revolution. We will see.

The Governor now does not expect to know whether Shell will build a cracker plant in Beaver County until sometime next year.

One thing is certain - wet gas will continue to change our landscape. This blog will continue to explore what those changes will mean for our communities and environment.

Corbett's tax breaks are all about natural gas, to the exclusion of renewable energy

Tim Puko reports in this morning's Tribune-Review that there is "quite a bit" of capital looking for investment opportunities in renewable energy in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. 

EverPower, a wind developer, employs 60 workers in Pittsburgh that have an uncertain future, in part, because of shifting government policies. EverPower would like to expand its business in Pennsylvania, as would Joe Morinville, owner of the Pittsburgh-based solar company Energy Independent Solutions. But if development picks up outside the United States, that is where the growth will occur.

Unless you are associated with the gas industry, don't look to the Corbett Administration for leadership on this issue. Patrick Henderson, Tom Corbett's energy executive, told Puko that "he [the Governor] won't be passing new tax credits or incentives in favor of renewable power ..."

Why will Corbett not adopt tax policies that promote investment  and job growth in Pennsylvania's renewable energy sector? According to Henderson, “I think it's time for all of them to stand (and compete) on their own.”

Ah yes, the ole' "we don't play favorites" argument. That must explain why the Corbett administration offered Royal Dutch Shell $1.65 billion in tax breaks to locate an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Does the word "hypocrisy" come to mind?  Because, you know, we don't play favorites.

The fact is that Corbett has gone "all in" with natural gas, betting that focusing every state policy on developing that single industry - from superseding traditional local control over planning to balancing the state's budget on the back of childhood education instead of a reasonable shale gas tax - will raise the tide for all.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reports that the Commonwealth's unemployment rate of 8.1% continues to exceed the national average of 7.7% percent, and has increased from over a year ago when it was 7.6 percent.  Over that same period, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unemployment in 37 other states and Puerto Rico has decreased - but not in Pennsylvania. 

Corbett's single industry plan does not appear to be working for Pennsylvania.

Natural Gas Poised to Push King Coal Off the Throne

As blogged by Brad Plumer at the Washington Post, a peer reviewed study by Duke indicates that natural gas will continue to push out dirty coal as the least cost power generation option so long as average natural gas to coal price remains below 1.8 (it was 1.42 in February 2012). The study indicates that if new air emission limitations are enforced against coal power plants, natural gas plants will remain competitive with coal plants up to a ratio of 4.3. In other words, as coal plants are required to absorb the real cost of harm that they impose on the public and environment, cleaner burning natural gas will be competitive even when the average cost of gas is four times that of dirty coal.