By Tim O'Connor

Last week the California Air Resources Board unanimously voted to finalize new regulations to reduce oil and gas methane emissions. This is the first major environmental regulation that has been issued since the new Administration took office, and sends a clear message that states aren’t going to take the new administrations attacks on the environment lying down.

Every signal from the Trump Administration – from pledging to kill the Clean Power Plan, to the recent executive orders that order EPA to begin reversing important climate protections, to the massive proposed budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency– indicate that the United States government is keen to undo some of the fundamental environmental protections that are critical to our health and prosperity. And yet, through these signals, California is moving forward with sensible policies that will hold oil and gas companies accountable for their operations, and their pollution.

Unsurprisingly, many see California as an outlier state, and passing the strongest oil and gas regulations in the county to require companies to regularly inspect equipment for gas leaks will undoubtedly feed that narrative.  However, just as they would if passed in other jurisdictions, the state’s efforts to prevent leaks help stop companies from needlessly wasting our energy resources – currently California operators report wasting $50 million of gas every year through their leaky operations.

California is the third-largest producer of oil in the country – meaning its actions are much more than symbolic.  As such, policy makers in oil and gas producing states across the country should take a hard look at the economic and environmental benefits of the state’s newest protections as proof that better environmental outcomes can go hand-in-hand with responsible energy development and economic prosperity. In short, unlike what the Trump Administration would have Americans believe, we don’t have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment, we can and should have both.

In fact the evidence shows that California isn’t an outlier on this issue: several other states have begun to make this point. For example, CARB’s rules come on the heels of similar actions undertaken by a mix of red and blue energy producing states. Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming each have policies that require oil and gas companies to use affordable methods to reduce emissions. Pennsylvania, the nation’s second-largest gas producer, is pursuing similar policies as well.

It’s easy to understand why states are pursuing emission reductions, and why our nation’s elected officials in Congress should resist efforts to backslide on its policies. Cutting oil and gas emissions is one of the most-cost effective ways to, protect air quality, tackle climate change and reduce energy waste. And it can be done by implementing home-grown solutions that are already being deployed right now – solutions that also result in new business opportunities.

California’s ability to double down on climate pollution without sparking economic chaos should send a message that smart environmental protections are what Americans deserve and our economy can easily accommodate.  The Administration can push back, but other policy makers – both in congress and in other states – can and should march forward. The climate data says it needs to be done, the economics show it works out, and the people across the land support and need it.

 

By Tim O'Connor

Last week the California Air Resources Board unanimously voted to finalize new regulations to reduce oil and gas methane emissions. This is the first major environmental regulation that has been issued since the new Administration took office, and sends a clear message that states aren’t going to take the new administrations attacks on the environment lying down.

Every signal from the Trump Administration – from pledging to kill the Clean Power Plan, to the recent executive orders that order EPA to begin reversing important climate protections, to the massive proposed budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency– indicate that the United States government is keen to undo some of the fundamental environmental protections that are critical to our health and prosperity. And yet, through these signals, California is moving forward with sensible policies that will hold oil and gas companies accountable for their operations, and their pollution.

Unsurprisingly, many see California as an outlier state, and passing the strongest oil and gas regulations in the county to require companies to regularly inspect equipment for gas leaks will undoubtedly feed that narrative.  However, just as they would if passed in other jurisdictions, the state’s efforts to prevent leaks help stop companies from needlessly wasting our energy resources – currently California operators report wasting $50 million of gas every year through their leaky operations.

California is the third-largest producer of oil in the country – meaning its actions are much more than symbolic.  As such, policy makers in oil and gas producing states across the country should take a hard look at the economic and environmental benefits of the state’s newest protections as proof that better environmental outcomes can go hand-in-hand with responsible energy development and economic prosperity. In short, unlike what the Trump Administration would have Americans believe, we don’t have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment, we can and should have both.

In fact the evidence shows that California isn’t an outlier on this issue: several other states have begun to make this point. For example, CARB’s rules come on the heels of similar actions undertaken by a mix of red and blue energy producing states. Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming each have policies that require oil and gas companies to use affordable methods to reduce emissions. Pennsylvania, the nation’s second-largest gas producer, is pursuing similar policies as well.

It’s easy to understand why states are pursuing emission reductions, and why our nation’s elected officials in Congress should resist efforts to backslide on its policies. Cutting oil and gas emissions is one of the most-cost effective ways to, protect air quality, tackle climate change and reduce energy waste. And it can be done by implementing home-grown solutions that are already being deployed right now – solutions that also result in new business opportunities.

California’s ability to double down on climate pollution without sparking economic chaos should send a message that smart environmental protections are what Americans deserve and our economy can easily accommodate.  The Administration can push back, but other policy makers – both in congress and in other states – can and should march forward. The climate data says it needs to be done, the economics show it works out, and the people across the land support and need it.

 

After our episodes on the impact of lead on the developing brain and how microbes teeming inside us shape our health in unbelievable ways, EDF Health is proud to present the latest episode of our podcast, You Make Me Sick. On this episode, we interviewed Dr. James Meador of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency […]

By Jonathan Choi

After our episodes on the impact of lead on the developing brain and how microbes teeming inside us shape our health in unbelievable ways, EDF Health is proud to present the latest episode of our podcast, You Make Me Sick. On this episode, we interviewed Dr. James Meador of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, who found a soup of chemicals, including cocaine, in the waters of the Puget Sound. He explains how drugs and other chemicals of emerging concern can pass through wastewater treatment plants and end up in the surrounding waters and even the tissues of fish!

Click below to listen. Want more? Subscribe to us on iTunes or Google Play, or check out our SoundCloud to listen via desktop!

Written by Dominique Browning

Today’s executive orders to protect polluters, signed by President Trump at EPA headquarters, are an unprecedented attack on clean air safeguards. Our children will bear the costs. Our families will bear the costs. Our communities will bear the costs. Never has a president, or an EPA head, acted with such reckless disregard for our health—or our safety in the face of the clear and present danger of climate change. Trump and EPA head Pruitt are doing the bidding of the biggest polluters.

This administration is willing to tell any lie. (Tweet this) Willing to alter any fact. Willing to let Americans pay any price—on behalf of polluters.

Trump and Pruitt are hell-bent on making it easier for Americans to get sick—and harder for Americans to get healthy.

Today’s actions hit me in the solar plexus—they’re so extreme. And they’ll hit all of us there if they are allowed to happen. Increased air pollution means a rise in asthma attacks, a rise in heart disease and stroke associated with particulate pollution, a rise in the premature births and low birth-weights associated with fracking pollution, a rise in the neurological damage mercury causes in the developing brains of babies.

All members of Moms Clean Air Force should be aware of exactly how huge the Trump/Pruitt Polluter Plan is. Here’s a partial list:

• Encourage more coal-fired power plants to spew mercury, a neurotoxin that harms babies’ brains, into the air.
• Get rid of protections against fracking pollution.
• Undo the smog protections that help prevent asthma attacks.
• Kill the fuel economy standards for cars that help us save money at the pump.
• Do nothing about dangerous climate change—except deny it.
• Ignore the Supreme Court ruling that EPA must regulate greenhouse gases.
• Let power plants unleash carbon pollution.
• Attack climate scientists.
• Attack science research and data collection.
• Kill plans for flood programs

Pruitt also wants to kill the popular Energy Star program for appliances, because energy efficiency is working too well, and we are saving too much money—in other words, we aren’t spending enough on electricity.

You read that right: America’s Clean Power Plan pushes states to get aggressive about finding efficient sources of energy, so people in every single state will have lower electric bills.

Ask yourself: Does any of the above protect your health? Does any of this protect your family? Does any of this protect your budget?

The answer is a deafening NO.

And let’s be clear: so far, the protections from pollution have NOT cost us jobs, have NOT hurt the economy, and have NOT raised electric bills.

Oil and gas and coal industry lies won’t stop the climate from changing. They won’t stop asthma and heart disease and neurological damage. Denying a problem doesn’t make it go away.

We cannot allow polluters to profit from treating our skies like their sewers. We cannot allow our country to go backwards on clean energy technology and deployment.

That’s how we achieve real energy independence—and profit all Americans.

TELL YOUR SENATOR: PROTECT OUR HEALTH FROM AIR AND CLIMATE POLLUTION

Thanks for listening to the fourth episode of Delta Dispatchers with hosts Simone Maloz & Jacques Hebert. In this episode, Simone talks with Captain Ryan Lambert of Cajun Fishing Adventures to talk about coastal restoration. Later in the show, Dr. John Lopez, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, joins the program to talk with Jacques about saving Louisiana’s fisheries. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches Podcast – Fisheries appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Thanks for listening to the fourth episode of Delta Dispatchers with hosts Simone Maloz & Jacques Hebert. In this episode, Simone talks with Captain Ryan Lambert of Cajun Fishing Adventures to talk about coastal restoration. Later in the show, Dr. John Lopez, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, joins the program to talk with Jacques about saving Louisiana’s fisheries. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches Podcast – Fisheries appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Thanks for listening to the fourth episode of Delta Dispatchers with hosts Simone Maloz & Jacques Hebert. In this episode, Simone talks with Captain Ryan Lambert of Cajun Fishing Adventures to talk about coastal restoration. Later in the show, Dr. John Lopez, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, joins the program to talk with Jacques about saving Louisiana’s fisheries. Below is a transcript of this week's Delta Dispatches Podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to ...

Read The Full Story

The post Delta Dispatches Podcast – Fisheries appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

By Ben Ratner

Last November, on the same day the Paris climate agreement took effect, 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, announced a billion-dollar investment in climate solutions. Together, the member-companies of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas and operate in 55 countries.

Their commitment was the beginning sign of a growing and public recognition by the oil and gas industry that tomorrow’s low carbon energy transformation has become today’s new energy imperative.

Right now, the biggest, most pressing climate item for the oil and gas industry is methane. Importantly, OGCI’s announcement included a global focus on reducing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Far more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timespan, methane is responsible for about a quarter of the warming we feel today.

Many expect OGCI to direct hundreds of millions of its billion-dollar pledge into addressing methane. Beyond the climate benefits, it’s a smart business investment. The International Energy Agency has said, “the potential for natural gas to play a credible role in the transition to a decarbonized energy system fundamentally depends on minimizing these emissions.” Simply put, methane is an existential threat for an industry and its long term investors banking on natural gas to aid the transition to a lower-carbon energy economy.

Potential is high for OGCI’s methane endeavor to catalyze important breakthroughs. With sets of OGCI members holding joint stakes in nearly 250 natural gas projects worldwide, there is opportunity to catalyze and spread methane emission reductions throughout the whole industry. We stand ready to help OGCI develop innovative solutions and offer the following suggestions as it begins its methane work.

Data Drives Success

Data alone won’t solve the methane challenge. But strong and credible data are essential. In the United States, vast scientific initiatives have greatly improved our understanding of methane leaks, releases and total emissions from oil and gas activity. This scientific understanding helps companies identify reduction opportunities and regulators develop sound, data-based regulations.

Globally, however, methane measurement is much less mature. Filling the gaps to better inform how companies and countries can address this problem in other parts of the world is important, while companies continue to pursue mitigation opportunities. As a future founding member of the UN’s Oil and Gas Methane Science Studies partnership, OGCI is positioned to bolster reliable and transparent methane science worldwide.

Innovation Requires Collaboration

Some of the innovation required to solve the methane challenge will come from collaboration within and among the OGCI companies. But not all of it. Around the world, there are entrepreneurs, scientists and investors that are already tackling methane. In our experience with the Methane Detectors Challenge, we learned that innovation requires early and ongoing collaboration across technology and energy sector lines. Without it, entrepreneurs don’t know what the market needs or wants and energy companies don’t know what technologists can deliver.

Today, there are gaps of information, culture, language and understanding between technology entrepreneurs and the energy companies they are trying to serve. Closing these gaps by supporting technology innovation is a prime opportunity for an industry group like OGCI to support, and OGCI is positioned to do this now that it has set up a smaller investment vehicle with the license to be nimble.

Focus on Prevention and Detection

Preventing methane leaks and finding them quickly are the two most important methane opportunities.

Every leak that is prevented is a leak that doesn’t need to be repaired. Innovation in design, technologies and strategies that prevent emissions at specific and known sources of equipment should be top of mind for OGCI. For example, aerial measurement studies have shown that tanks are significant emission sources, some of which are not properly controlled. Routine methane releases from inefficient or malfunctioning valves are also believed to be a significant source.

An undetected methane leak can leak indefinitely. It’s one reason why periodic detection is so important, and efficient airborne sweeps for large leaks should be investigated. But while routine checks are better than none, they can still allow leaks to persist for months at a time. In the United States alone, studies have shown that 10 percent of leaks are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. Fortunately, next-generation detection technologies are being developed to catch large leaks with the speed we’d expect in the digital age.

Statoil, a Norwegian-based international oil and gas company and OGCI member, is pioneering continuous methane emissions monitoring at a well pad in Texas, and a leading natural gas utility is doing the same in California. These are promising developments, bringing real-time methane monitors to market. Now, the next level of industry leadership from groups such as OCGI are vital to help spur competition in this growing segment and drive unit deployment up and costs down.

Avoiding the wasteful flaring of natural gas in favor of recapturing the fuel is another worthy opportunity to tighten the oil and gas system. There are roughly 16,000 flares worldwide, and some flares burn all day and night. OGCI can galvanize investors and operators to provide the capital and incentives to put entrepreneurs to work turning wasted gas into productive use.

Results Matter

OGCI’s success will be measured by the amount of methane reductions it delivers. Now is the time for OGCI to set a clear path for how it will achieve success with its multi-million dollar methane mitigation endeavor.

EDF’s global goal – reducing oil and gas methane emissions 45 percent by 2025 – coincides with OGCI’s 10-year mandate and is a mark we encourage the group to embrace or exceed. Industry leaders and investors need to manage methane risk so that natural gas is a cleaner, more responsible transition fuel. Governments and their citizens need to know that industry is doing all it can to address the global methane challenge. OGCI is in a unique position to spur innovation that can satisfy both needs.

Image source: John Davidson

Last November, on the same day the Paris climate agreement took effect, 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, announced a billion-dollar investment in climate solutions. Together, the member-companies of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce […]

By Ben Ratner

Last November, on the same day the Paris climate agreement took effect, 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, announced a billion-dollar investment in climate solutions. Together, the member-companies of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas and operate in 55 countries.

Their commitment was the beginning sign of a growing and public recognition by the oil and gas industry that tomorrow’s low carbon energy transformation has become today’s new energy imperative.

Right now, the biggest, most pressing climate item for the oil and gas industry is methane. Importantly, OGCI’s announcement included a global focus on reducing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Far more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timespan, methane is responsible for about a quarter of the warming we feel today.

Many expect OGCI to direct hundreds of millions of its billion-dollar pledge into addressing methane. Beyond the climate benefits, it’s a smart business investment. The International Energy Agency has said, “the potential for natural gas to play a credible role in the transition to a decarbonized energy system fundamentally depends on minimizing these emissions.” Simply put, methane is an existential threat for an industry and its long term investors banking on natural gas to aid the transition to a lower-carbon energy economy.

Potential is high for OGCI’s methane endeavor to catalyze important breakthroughs. With sets of OGCI members holding joint stakes in nearly 250 natural gas projects worldwide, there is opportunity to catalyze and spread methane emission reductions throughout the whole industry. We stand ready to help OGCI develop innovative solutions and offer the following suggestions as it begins its methane work.

Data Drives Success

Data alone won’t solve the methane challenge. But strong and credible data are essential. In the United States, vast scientific initiatives have greatly improved our understanding of methane leaks, releases and total emissions from oil and gas activity. This scientific understanding helps companies identify reduction opportunities and regulators develop sound, data-based regulations.

Globally, however, methane measurement is much less mature. Filling the gaps to better inform how companies and countries can address this problem in other parts of the world is important, while companies continue to pursue mitigation opportunities. As a future founding member of the UN’s Oil and Gas Methane Science Studies partnership, OGCI is positioned to bolster reliable and transparent methane science worldwide.

Innovation Requires Collaboration

Some of the innovation required to solve the methane challenge will come from collaboration within and among the OGCI companies. But not all of it. Around the world, there are entrepreneurs, scientists and investors that are already tackling methane. In our experience with the Methane Detectors Challenge, we learned that innovation requires early and ongoing collaboration across technology and energy sector lines. Without it, entrepreneurs don’t know what the market needs or wants and energy companies don’t know what technologists can deliver.

Today, there are gaps of information, culture, language and understanding between technology entrepreneurs and the energy companies they are trying to serve. Closing these gaps by supporting technology innovation is a prime opportunity for an industry group like OGCI to support, and OGCI is positioned to do this now that it has set up a smaller investment vehicle with the license to be nimble.

Focus on Prevention and Detection

Preventing methane leaks and finding them quickly are the two most important methane opportunities.

Every leak that is prevented is a leak that doesn’t need to be repaired. Innovation in design, technologies and strategies that prevent emissions at specific and known sources of equipment should be top of mind for OGCI. For example, aerial measurement studies have shown that tanks are significant emission sources, some of which are not properly controlled. Routine methane releases from inefficient or malfunctioning valves are also believed to be a significant source.

An undetected methane leak can leak indefinitely. It’s one reason why periodic detection is so important, and efficient airborne sweeps for large leaks should be investigated. But while routine checks are better than none, they can still allow leaks to persist for months at a time. In the United States alone, studies have shown that 10 percent of leaks are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. Fortunately, next-generation detection technologies are being developed to catch large leaks with the speed we’d expect in the digital age.

Statoil, a Norwegian-based international oil and gas company and OGCI member, is pioneering continuous methane emissions monitoring at a well pad in Texas, and a leading natural gas utility is doing the same in California. These are promising developments, bringing real-time methane monitors to market. Now, the next level of industry leadership from groups such as OCGI are vital to help spur competition in this growing segment and drive unit deployment up and costs down.

Avoiding the wasteful flaring of natural gas in favor of recapturing the fuel is another worthy opportunity to tighten the oil and gas system. There are roughly 16,000 flares worldwide, and some flares burn all day and night. OGCI can galvanize investors and operators to provide the capital and incentives to put entrepreneurs to work turning wasted gas into productive use.

Results Matter

OGCI’s success will be measured by the amount of methane reductions it delivers. Now is the time for OGCI to set a clear path for how it will achieve success with its multi-million dollar methane mitigation endeavor.

EDF’s global goal – reducing oil and gas methane emissions 45 percent by 2025 – coincides with OGCI’s 10-year mandate and is a mark we encourage the group to embrace or exceed. Industry leaders and investors need to manage methane risk so that natural gas is a cleaner, more responsible transition fuel. Governments and their citizens need to know that industry is doing all it can to address the global methane challenge. OGCI is in a unique position to spur innovation that can satisfy both needs.

Image source: John Davidson

By Ben Ratner

Last November, on the same day the Paris climate agreement took effect, 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, announced a billion-dollar investment in climate solutions. Together, the member-companies of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas and operate in 55 countries.

Their commitment was the beginning sign of a growing and public recognition by the oil and gas industry that tomorrow’s low carbon energy transformation has become today’s new energy imperative.

Right now, the biggest, most pressing climate item for the oil and gas industry is methane. Importantly, OGCI’s announcement included a global focus on reducing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Far more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timespan, methane is responsible for about a quarter of the warming we feel today.

Many expect OGCI to direct hundreds of millions of its billion-dollar pledge into addressing methane. Beyond the climate benefits, it’s a smart business investment. The International Energy Agency has said, “the potential for natural gas to play a credible role in the transition to a decarbonized energy system fundamentally depends on minimizing these emissions.” Simply put, methane is an existential threat for an industry and its long term investors banking on natural gas to aid the transition to a lower-carbon energy economy.

Potential is high for OGCI’s methane endeavor to catalyze important breakthroughs. With sets of OGCI members holding joint stakes in nearly 250 natural gas projects worldwide, there is opportunity to catalyze and spread methane emission reductions throughout the whole industry. We stand ready to help OGCI develop innovative solutions and offer the following suggestions as it begins its methane work.

Data Drives Success

Data alone won’t solve the methane challenge. But strong and credible data are essential. In the United States, vast scientific initiatives have greatly improved our understanding of methane leaks, releases and total emissions from oil and gas activity. This scientific understanding helps companies identify reduction opportunities and regulators develop sound, data-based regulations.

Globally, however, methane measurement is much less mature. Filling the gaps to better inform how companies and countries can address this problem in other parts of the world is important, while companies continue to pursue mitigation opportunities. As a future founding member of the UN’s Oil and Gas Methane Science Studies partnership, OGCI is positioned to bolster reliable and transparent methane science worldwide.

Innovation Requires Collaboration

Some of the innovation required to solve the methane challenge will come from collaboration within and among the OGCI companies. But not all of it. Around the world, there are entrepreneurs, scientists and investors that are already tackling methane. In our experience with the Methane Detectors Challenge, we learned that innovation requires early and ongoing collaboration across technology and energy sector lines. Without it, entrepreneurs don’t know what the market needs or wants and energy companies don’t know what technologists can deliver.

Today, there are gaps of information, culture, language and understanding between technology entrepreneurs and the energy companies they are trying to serve. Closing these gaps by supporting technology innovation is a prime opportunity for an industry group like OGCI to support, and OGCI is positioned to do this now that it has set up a smaller investment vehicle with the license to be nimble.

Focus on Prevention and Detection

Preventing methane leaks and finding them quickly are the two most important methane opportunities.

Every leak that is prevented is a leak that doesn’t need to be repaired. Innovation in design, technologies and strategies that prevent emissions at specific and known sources of equipment should be top of mind for OGCI. For example, aerial measurement studies have shown that tanks are significant emission sources, some of which are not properly controlled. Routine methane releases from inefficient or malfunctioning valves are also believed to be a significant source.

An undetected methane leak can leak indefinitely. It’s one reason why periodic detection is so important, and efficient airborne sweeps for large leaks should be investigated. But while routine checks are better than none, they can still allow leaks to persist for months at a time. In the United States alone, studies have shown that 10 percent of leaks are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. Fortunately, next-generation detection technologies are being developed to catch large leaks with the speed we’d expect in the digital age.

Statoil, a Norwegian-based international oil and gas company and OGCI member, is pioneering continuous methane emissions monitoring at a well pad in Texas, and a leading natural gas utility is doing the same in California. These are promising developments, bringing real-time methane monitors to market. Now, the next level of industry leadership from groups such as OCGI are vital to help spur competition in this growing segment and drive unit deployment up and costs down.

Avoiding the wasteful flaring of natural gas in favor of recapturing the fuel is another worthy opportunity to tighten the oil and gas system. There are roughly 16,000 flares worldwide, and some flares burn all day and night. OGCI can galvanize investors and operators to provide the capital and incentives to put entrepreneurs to work turning wasted gas into productive use.

Results Matter

OGCI’s success will be measured by the amount of methane reductions it delivers. Now is the time for OGCI to set a clear path for how it will achieve success with its multi-million dollar methane mitigation endeavor.

EDF’s global goal – reducing oil and gas methane emissions 45 percent by 2025 – coincides with OGCI’s 10-year mandate and is a mark we encourage the group to embrace or exceed. Industry leaders and investors need to manage methane risk so that natural gas is a cleaner, more responsible transition fuel. Governments and their citizens need to know that industry is doing all it can to address the global methane challenge. OGCI is in a unique position to spur innovation that can satisfy both needs.

Image source: John Davidson

By Ben Ratner

Last November, on the same day the Paris climate agreement took effect, 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total, announced a billion-dollar investment in climate solutions. Together, the member-companies of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) produce 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas and operate in 55 countries.

Their commitment was the beginning sign of a growing and public recognition by the oil and gas industry that tomorrow’s low carbon energy transformation has become today’s new energy imperative.

Right now, the biggest, most pressing climate item for the oil and gas industry is methane. Importantly, OGCI’s announcement included a global focus on reducing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Far more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timespan, methane is responsible for about a quarter of the warming we feel today.

Many expect OGCI to direct hundreds of millions of its billion-dollar pledge into addressing methane. Beyond the climate benefits, it’s a smart business investment. The International Energy Agency has said, “the potential for natural gas to play a credible role in the transition to a decarbonized energy system fundamentally depends on minimizing these emissions.” Simply put, methane is an existential threat for an industry and its long term investors banking on natural gas to aid the transition to a lower-carbon energy economy.

Potential is high for OGCI’s methane endeavor to catalyze important breakthroughs. With sets of OGCI members holding joint stakes in nearly 250 natural gas projects worldwide, there is opportunity to catalyze and spread methane emission reductions throughout the whole industry. We stand ready to help OGCI develop innovative solutions and offer the following suggestions as it begins its methane work.

Data Drives Success

Data alone won’t solve the methane challenge. But strong and credible data are essential. In the United States, vast scientific initiatives have greatly improved our understanding of methane leaks, releases and total emissions from oil and gas activity. This scientific understanding helps companies identify reduction opportunities and regulators develop sound, data-based regulations.

Globally, however, methane measurement is much less mature. Filling the gaps to better inform how companies and countries can address this problem in other parts of the world is important, while companies continue to pursue mitigation opportunities. As a future founding member of the UN’s Oil and Gas Methane Science Studies partnership, OGCI is positioned to bolster reliable and transparent methane science worldwide.

Innovation Requires Collaboration

Some of the innovation required to solve the methane challenge will come from collaboration within and among the OGCI companies. But not all of it. Around the world, there are entrepreneurs, scientists and investors that are already tackling methane. In our experience with the Methane Detectors Challenge, we learned that innovation requires early and ongoing collaboration across technology and energy sector lines. Without it, entrepreneurs don’t know what the market needs or wants and energy companies don’t know what technologists can deliver.

Today, there are gaps of information, culture, language and understanding between technology entrepreneurs and the energy companies they are trying to serve. Closing these gaps by supporting technology innovation is a prime opportunity for an industry group like OGCI to support, and OGCI is positioned to do this now that it has set up a smaller investment vehicle with the license to be nimble.

Focus on Prevention and Detection

Preventing methane leaks and finding them quickly are the two most important methane opportunities.

Every leak that is prevented is a leak that doesn’t need to be repaired. Innovation in design, technologies and strategies that prevent emissions at specific and known sources of equipment should be top of mind for OGCI. For example, aerial measurement studies have shown that tanks are significant emission sources, some of which are not properly controlled. Routine methane releases from inefficient or malfunctioning valves are also believed to be a significant source.

An undetected methane leak can leak indefinitely. It’s one reason why periodic detection is so important, and efficient airborne sweeps for large leaks should be investigated. But while routine checks are better than none, they can still allow leaks to persist for months at a time. In the United States alone, studies have shown that 10 percent of leaks are responsible for 80 percent of emissions. Fortunately, next-generation detection technologies are being developed to catch large leaks with the speed we’d expect in the digital age.

Statoil, a Norwegian-based international oil and gas company and OGCI member, is pioneering continuous methane emissions monitoring at a well pad in Texas, and a leading natural gas utility is doing the same in California. These are promising developments, bringing real-time methane monitors to market. Now, the next level of industry leadership from groups such as OCGI are vital to help spur competition in this growing segment and drive unit deployment up and costs down.

Avoiding the wasteful flaring of natural gas in favor of recapturing the fuel is another worthy opportunity to tighten the oil and gas system. There are roughly 16,000 flares worldwide, and some flares burn all day and night. OGCI can galvanize investors and operators to provide the capital and incentives to put entrepreneurs to work turning wasted gas into productive use.

Results Matter

OGCI’s success will be measured by the amount of methane reductions it delivers. Now is the time for OGCI to set a clear path for how it will achieve success with its multi-million dollar methane mitigation endeavor.

EDF’s global goal – reducing oil and gas methane emissions 45 percent by 2025 – coincides with OGCI’s 10-year mandate and is a mark we encourage the group to embrace or exceed. Industry leaders and investors need to manage methane risk so that natural gas is a cleaner, more responsible transition fuel. Governments and their citizens need to know that industry is doing all it can to address the global methane challenge. OGCI is in a unique position to spur innovation that can satisfy both needs.

Image source: John Davidson

Written by Marcia G. Yerman

The country appears to be in the grip of denial about what is real and what isn’t.

For the segment of the population wanting to look away from uncomfortable truths, that path is expedient. They can still believe that Americans embody exceptionalism, ingenuity, a can-do attitude, and tolerance for others.

Some are embracing falsehoods for convenience sake, because they think it will benefit them to turn a blind eye. Others just don’t want to believe that certain issues are going to impact them.

A prime example of this syndrome is the dismissal of environmental problems. The clock is ticking, and it may no longer be in someone else’s backyard.

Consider the proposed budget cuts to the EPA. President Trump and his team are pushing to diminish the agency by one-third. In dollars, that means a reduction from 8.1 billion to 5.7 billion. As far as jobs, the goal is to slice away one-fifth of all employees, or 3200 positions.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s Director of White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), stated that the EPA was the “first place to come to mind when you want to drain the swamp.”

Usually, the complaints I see about the EPA come from people who think the department is replicating work done at the state level, or who are annoyed about efforts they qualify as “overreach.”

I prefer to look at those who will be at a loss without the oversight of the dedicated workers at the EPA.

At the top of the list are people suffering from environmental inequality in a systemic fashion. They depend on the office of Environmental Justice to level the playing field when they are up against big businesses who pollute, and are only concerned with the bottom line of their profits.

How about the parents of children with asthma? They may still be able to check the EPA website to get support on how to help formulate an action plan for their kids, but what about the on-the-ground realities?

Administrator Scott Pruitt just released a plan to reevaluate (code for change) the Obama ruling “that finalized standards to increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025.” He stated, “These standards are costly for automakers and the American people.”

How will these revisions impact youngsters who live in Los Angeles or the Bronx – where smog and particle pollution are high and will only get worse. Or pregnant mothers? Studies have shown that fetal exposure to air pollution results in brain development impacts.

Pair this initiative with the efforts to end the Clean Power Plan, deplete funds for the Superfund program (commonly in economically depressed locations), and the 50 percent reduction of the Office of Research and Development – and you have a recipe for a mess.

The list continues…

Slated for elimination are clean-ups of areas off the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes. Even the Energy Star program, which helps consumers choose the best products for their homes in terms of energy efficiency, is on the block.

The disconnect comes with the premise that the state is going to pick up all the slack – and the tab.

In some cases, like taking polluters to court, states won’t – because they don’t have the money or the resources. In emergencies, they will also be in dire trouble. Former EPA officials pointed out that states lack both the “expertise and resources of the federal government,” in a New York Times article about this potential concern. Gina McCarthy noted, “States do not have the technical capability to do some of this work.”

For now, it may look like a simple economic issue to those who don’t recognize the looming problems ahead. But these can become catastrophic personal and planetary problems. Just ask the mother who experienced the impacts of methane from the Porter Ranch leak. Or those whose homes were decimated by Hurricane Sandy.

Think of the horror that Hurricane Irene wreaked on Vermont when her raging waters dislodged caskets from a Rochester cemetery. What will happen to the people of Port Arthur, and all the other vulnerable communities inhabited by people of color, indigenous tribes, and low-income people?

Scott Pruitt doesn’t seem to care about facts. Clearly, neither does President Trump. For this administration facts don’t matter. For the rest of us, they do.

TELL CONGRESS: PROTECT EPA

President Trump is launching an unwise and anti-science assault on the Clean Power Plan, one of the most important actions America has taken to address the climate crisis. Regional.

President Trump is launching an unwise and anti-science assault on the Clean Power Plan, one of the most important actions America has taken to address the climate crisis. Regional.

President Trump is launching an unwise and anti-science assault on the Clean Power Plan, one of the most important actions America has taken to address the climate crisis.

President Trump is launching an unwise and anti-science assault on the Clean Power Plan, one of the most important actions America has taken to address the climate crisis.