It looks like a relatively simple problem at first. A substance leaking into the atmosphere is a fuel that operators can sell, seeming to give them every incentive to try and capture it. But methane management has become so political in the US over the last year that it has become a muddle.
The Obama administration's emphasis on climate change has intensified during the president's final year in office. Carbon dioxide still represents the largest single greenhouse gas source at 82% of total US emissions, according to the White House web site. Methane is second at 9%, but is 25 times more potent in its early stages and therefore equally urgent.
Consequently, two different federal agencies are preparing rules to limit methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, which the administration considers the biggest source. One is expected from the US Environmental Protection Agency to address new sources. The US Bureau of Land Management already has proposed the second, which would apply to existing onshore operations on public and Indian tribal lands.
A US Department of the Interior official told a US House Natural Resources subcommittee recently that BLM's rule is designed to stop the waste of a valuable public resource as required under the 1920 Minerals Act and would not duplicate EPA's efforts, which are more environmentally driven. BLM still is trying to stay aware of what EPA is doing to avoid regulatory duplication, she added.
Governments have been trying to stop the flaring and venting of gas worldwide for at least a dozen years. The World Bank's International Finance Corp. affiliate was particularly active in working with overseas governments around 2005, and hoped to eliminate the practice eventually.
Estimates vs. measurements
But the surge of unconventional US crude oil production soon after created more associated gas that had no way to reach markets. Venting and flaring resumed in some US oil fields. EPA began to issue GHG estimates based on aerial imaging. Researchers at several universities worked with producers to measure wellhead emissions, with results lower than EPA's estimates.
The day before the House subcommittee's hearing on BLM's proposed venting and flaring rule, the Natural Gas Council-an organization representing industry segments from the wellhead to the burner tip-issued an IFC International report providing a guide to 75 different studies of methane emissions from gas systems. It did not try to judge their accuracy, but simply showed their varied approaches and different conclusions.
Officials from the council's gas industry segments emphasized that finding practical and economic ways to curb emissions is still important. But the Obama administration's sense of climate urgency has created a methane muddle instead.
