Study: Emissions Inventories For Colorado OIl & Gas Operations At Least 50% Too Low
A unique aerial measurement campaign found that emission inventories compiled by energy companies to account for planet-warming methane leaking from equipment on Colorado oil and gas production sites undercount such pollutants by at least two times.
Results from the $3.25 million project, led by a team of university researchers and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, provided officials for the first time with a more complete picture of the invisible pollutant emitted from well pads. Fossil fuel extraction is the state’s second-largest source of methane pollution, which has a global warming potential roughly 80 times that of carbon dioxide during a 20-year period. The data is important to provide a baseline from which regulators can hold companies accountable for complying with laws that require them to significantly reduce methane emissions from pipes, compressors, tanks and other equipment. It’s also valuable to the oil and gas industry: Researchers notified companies when they saw leaks during overflights of targeted facilities.
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The first phase of the campaign relied on two models that used different methods. One, employed by Hodshire at the methane emissions testing center, combined emissions inventories filed with the state and overflight data. And a second, created by the Colorado School of Mines, used only measurement data and supplemented it with emissions recorded by continuous monitors on production sites. The Colorado State University model found emissions were underreported by a factor of about 1.2, while the School of Mines model calculated the difference to be a factor of 3.08.
The energy agency voted in November to allocate $820,072 for the second phase of the project. The scope of work is scaled down, Shoup said, because of the federal funding cancellations made by the Trump administration that were allocated to fund sweeping measurement campaigns planned by the methane emissions testing facility. The cuts represented about half of the more than $600 million for 38 Colorado-affiliated projects that were cancelled by the U.S. Department of Energy in October. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s office said that the legislator, who is running for governor this year, is “pursuing all legislative options to ensure these funds are not cancelled.”
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https://capitalandmain.com/colorados-oil-and-gas-industry-is-vastly-underestimating-methane-emissions