US reported greenhouse gas emissions totaled 2,898 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, 2.7% less than in 2016, the US Environmental Protection Agency reported on Oct. 17. The direct emissions data from 7,544 facilities in nine energy sectors as of Aug. 19 represent about half of the nation’s total GHG emissions, it said.
“These achievements flow largely from technological breakthroughs in the private sector, not the heavy hand of government,” Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said. “While many around the world are talking about reducing greenhouse gases, the US continues to deliver, and today’s report is further evidence of our action-oriented approach.”
The agency is accepting comments on the data through Nov. 15.
Emissions from US oil and gas production and gathering; gas processing, compression, transportation, underground storage, and distribution; and LNG imports, exports, and storage; and other oil and gas combustion totaled 284.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2017, 4 million tonnes more than the 280.2 million tonnes reported a year earlier, figures collected for EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program showed.
It said that 144 US refineries reported 177.4 million tonnes of emissions in 2017, down from 199.3 million tonnes in 2016. Chemical plants’ total reported emissions rose to 284.4 million tonnes in 2017 from 177.3 million tonnes the previous year. Reported power plant GHG emissions declined to 1,792.8 million tonnes in 2017 from 1,867.7 million tonnes in 2016, according to EPA.
Responding to the data, an American Petroleum Institute official said that it showed a continued downward trend in US GHG emissions as the country has become the world’s leading oil and gas producer.
“The oil and gas industry has invested more than double the next highest industry sector in zero and low-emissions technologies since 2000,” API Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Senior Director Howard Feldman said. “Clean natural gas produced through advanced technologies like hydraulic fracturing is playing a significant role in driving US carbon dioxide emissions to 25-year lows.”