Hi All – Please see below for an additional clip from the Albuquerque Journal on the Dallas EPA methane hearing below:

NM Moms To Testify At Methane Hearing. According to the Albuquerque Journal, “Six New Mexico mothers will advocate for strict methane regulations at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing in Dallas on Thursday. Celerah Hewes, an Albuquerque mother of a 6-year-old daughter and field director for New Mexico’s chapter of the Moms Clean Air Force, said women and minorities should speak up about methane. ‘It’s important to hear from families on this issue, and to let the EPA know that it’s not just about economic impact,’ Hewes said. ‘We as women are heavily impacted by air pollution from the oil and gas industry, but we don’t make up a lot of that industry’s employment force.’ Methane is a greenhouse gas and a main ingredient in natural gas. When the earth’s surface radiates solar energy back into the atmosphere as heat, greenhouse gases and other pollutants form a blanket over the earth and prevent that heat from escaping. That leads to global increases in temperature. EPA proposed rule changes in August to reduce methane monitoring for oil and gas pipelines and wells. New Mexico Oil and Gas Association Executive Director Ryan Flynn said the group is not sending anyone to the hearing. NMOGA has presented its own plan to cut methane emissions. That plan aligns closely with the EPA rule changes. Companies drilling for oil may flare or vent natural gas if they don’t have infrastructure to store or transport the product. Faulty equipment can leak more methane into the atmosphere. New Mexico is creating methane regulations and working with Descartes Labs to use satellite data in tracking emissions.” [Albuquerque Journal, 10/16/19 (+)]

From: Chad Ellwood <cellwood@cacampaign.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 8:47 AM
To: Chad Ellwood <cellwood@cacampaign.com>
Subject: Methane Clips 10.17.19

General News

Despite Their Promises, Giant Energy Companies Burn Away Vast Amounts Of Natural Gas. According to the New York Times, “When leaders from Exxon Mobil and BP gathered last month with other fossil-fuel executives to declare they were serious about climate change, they cited progress in curbing an energy-wasting practice called flaring — the intentional burning of natural gas as companies drill faster than pipelines can move the energy away. But in recent years, some of these same companies have significantly increased their flaring, as well as the venting of natural gas and other potent greenhouse gases directly into the atmosphere, according to data from the three largest shale-oil fields in the United States. The practice has consequence for climate change because natural gas is a potent contributor to global warming. It also wastes vast amounts of energy: Last year in Texas, venting and flaring in the Permian Basin oil field alone consumed more natural gas than states like Arizona and South Carolina use in a year. Exxon’s venting and flaring has surged since 2017 to record highs, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of gas produced, the numbers show. Exxon flared or vented 70 percent more gas in 2018 than it did the previous year, according to the data, bringing an end to several years of improvements. Flaring and venting are legal under state laws, and oil companies acknowledge the practices are wasteful.” [New York Times, 10/16/19 (=)]

Fracking Causing Earthquakes In Permian Basin — Study. According to E&E News, “New research out of Texas indicates that man-made earthquakes in the Permian Basin area are more likely being caused by hydraulic fracturing than injection of oil-field wastewater. The west side of the Permian zone in West Texas has seen an uptick in earth-shaking events since a drilling boom there. By taking an in-depth look at several points in the region, scientists at the state’s Bureau of Economic Geology found they lined up well with fracturing operations, or ‘fracking.’ ‘It was that correlation in time and space that showed they were much more likely to be from hydraulic fracturing than saltwater disposal,’ said Michael Young, the associate director of environmental research at the bureau, which is part of the University of Texas, Austin. Researchers analyzed a group of 3,103 quakes. They found 1,217 were associated with hydraulic fracturing, about 40%. None of the quakes was larger than magnitude 2.8, which is about the size at which people can feel them at the surface. It’s not clear what that might mean for oil production in the region, a major driver of the Texas economy that fuels a big chunk of the country’s gasoline needs. Young said oil producers could use the research to change their fracking techniques to prevent shaking. ‘They don’t want earthquakes either,’ Young said. Oklahoma oil and gas officials have developed a set of protocols for scaling back or ceasing frack jobs when low-level shaking is detected.” [E&E News, 10/17/19 (=)]

Feds Fail To Keep Pace On Safety Inspections — GAO. According to E&E News, “Four years after a massive leak at an underground natural gas storage field in California, the U.S. Transportation Department’s pipeline safety office has fallen behind in its goal of ensuring the safety of similar sites around the country, according to the Government Accountability Office. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration set a goal of inspecting all 400 underground storage facilities between 2018 and 2023. The sites are scattered across 31 states, and PHMSA expected that 25 of those states would help conduct the inspections. But so far, only 10 states have joined in the inspections, meaning PHMSA will have to do more of the work itself. But the agency hasn’t asked for more staff or funding to handle the task, the report says. ‘By analyzing the factors affecting states’ participation in inspections and analyzing the agency’s workforce needs on an ongoing basis and using this information to guide its budget requests, PHMSA would have more reasonable assurance that it has the necessary staff to meet its inspection goal,’ the report says. The report comes after years of complaints about PHMSA’s inability to follow through on pipeline safety improvements that were mandated by Congress in 2011 and 2016. The agency could become fodder for more criticism as Congress prepares to reauthorize the agency this year (Energywire, Oct. 1).” [E&E News, 10/17/19 (=)]

After Long Wait, Some New Yorkers To Get Gas Service Back. According to E&E News, “Some New Yorkers that have been waiting for months to get natural gas service will see their homes and businesses hooked up by the end of October because of an emergency order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Utility owner National Grid PLC is rushing to comply with Cuomo’s order and expects to line up enough gas to reconnect about 1,100 customers within the next two weeks, said John Bruckner, president of the company’s New York unit. The utility has already contacted more than half of the customers who qualify for a hookup under the order and will have reached out to all of them by the end of the week, he said. Cuomo and London-based National Grid have been locked in a battle over natural gas since New York shot down a $1 billion pipeline project that would’ve expanded the company’s access to more supplies. In response, the company imposed a moratorium on all new hookups and encouraged customers to write to Cuomo’s office in support of the project. Cuomo fired back last week, saying the company had ‘acted in bad faith.’ He ordered it to immediately resume connections to some customers. ‘We’ve allocated resources that enable us to address all these customers and connect them all in a very short period of time,’ Bruckner said in a phone interview Tuesday.” [E&E News, 10/17/19 (=)]

Trump To Speak In Shale Country: Trump is scheduled to deliver keynote remarks on domestic energy development, environmental progress and national security at the Shale Insight conference on Oct. 23 in Pittsburgh. Trump spoke at the industry conference once before, in 2016, when he was still a candidate for president. What happened in Philadelphia: The explosion and fire that rocked the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in June was spurred by a corroded piece of pipe, according to a factual update released Wednesday by the Chemical Safety Board. A pipe elbow, ‘which had corroded to about half the thickness of a credit card, appears to have ruptured in the refinery’s alkylation unit, releasing process fluid that included over 5,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid,’ the board said in a release. That in turn formed a large vapor cloud that ignited and caused the fire and explosion.” [Politico, 10/17/19 (=)]

Rubio Eyes Drilling Moratorium Action Next Year. According to Politico, “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) doesn’t expect action anytime soon on his bill, S. 13 (116), that would extend the current moratorium against drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for another five years, but he hopes to find a vehicle to advance it in early 2020. ‘There probably won’t be one this year, but we hope at some point early next year there will be a vehicle that can pass and that the president will sign,’ he told reporters. ‘We’ve been working with Chairman Murkowski’s office to try to identify that and hopefully move forward.’ Asked about specific vehicles, Rubio said, ‘Unless it’s a funding bill, it would have to be something that comes out of [Murkowski’s] committee.’” [Politico, 10/17/19 (=)]

SPR In The Spotlight. According to Politico, “The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing this morning on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and energy security. Energy Information Administration chief Linda Capuano and Steven Winberg, DOE’s assistant secretary for fossil energy, are among those testifying. Murkowski last month pointed to the attacks on a Saudi refinery as an example of the importance of U.S. energy production and the need to protect the reserve, which has in recent years been used as a funding mechanism for other initiatives.” [Politico, 10/17/19 (=)]

Greens Warn Of 'Reputational Risk' Of Drilling ANWR. According to E&E News, “Greens have launched an ad campaign against oil firms that may want to explore drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The $250,000 multipublication campaign started with a half-page spread in The Wall Street Journal print edition this morning. It promises litigation against any firm that would drill in the refuge’s coastal plain — a 1.5-million-acre region along the Arctic coast that Congress opened to oil interests via a rider in the 2017 tax overhaul. Under a photo collage of the eyes of Alaskan people and wildlife, the ad warns, ‘We Are Watching.’ ‘We stand ready to challenge any company foolish enough to invite this opposition, uncertainty, and reputational risk,’ the ad reads. It is signed by more than 30 organizations including the Arctic Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice. Groups like the Sierra Club have previously made the argument that drilling ANWR will bruise industry’s reputation. The Sierra Club claimed a victory when the Royal Bank of Scotland joined financiers like National Australia Bank and Barclays PLC in cutting oil financing (Energywire, Aug. 7). But Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, shrugged off the idea that environmental criticism or litigation would harm industry’s interest in developing ANWR’s coastal plain.” [E&E News, 10/16/19 (=)]

Trump To Headline Pa. Shale Conference. According to E&E News, “President Trump plans to give a keynote address next week at a natural gas conference in Pittsburgh, event organizers announced today. Trump will give a speech Wednesday during the ninth annual Shale Insight conference, an event put on by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a group of natural gas companies based in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. ‘With President Trump’s leadership, America’s energy revolution is driving environmental progress and providing benefits, including a manufacturing rebirth, that are making our nation stronger and more secure,’ said Marcellus Shale Coalition President David Spigelmyer in a statement. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump’s speech will mark his second time speaking at the conference. Previously, then-presidential candidate Trump gave closing remarks at the event in 2016. The administration has touted an expanded domestic oil and natural gas sector as one of its chief accomplishments to date as U.S. production has continued its upward trends that started in the Obama years. Dubbed ‘energy dominance,’ the Trump administration’s approach has looked to leverage that surplus of U.S. energy to other countries via exports with the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” [E&E News, 10/16/19 (=)]

Pa. Refinery Blast Spewed Deadly Gas; 'Lucky' No Fatalities. According to E&E News, “A towering explosion at a century-old Philadelphia oil refinery earlier this year released 5,239 pounds of a hydrofluoric acid, federal investigators said today, the first time they have seen releases of the potentially deadly chemical during a refinery blast. Hydrofluoric acid, or HF, which can cause severe lung injuries or death if inhaled, was used at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery to make high-octane gasoline. But when a 46-year-old pipe elbow containing a mixture of propane and HF ruptured in the early hours of June 21, the process fluid formed a ‘large ground-hugging vapor cloud’ that quickly ignited, setting off a series of explosions and sending thousands of pounds of debris flying at the now shuttered PES refinery, the Chemical Safety Board said in an investigation update. While the explosion — set in motion by the failure of a pipe that hadn’t been inspected in decades and was corroded to a width less than half of a credit card — was similar to other refinery explosions in Richmond, Calif., and Woods Cross, Utah, in recent years, the HF release was a troubling new development, according to the head of CSB. ‘There was no HF released in those two other incidents,’ Kristen Kulinowski, CSB’s interim executive director, said in a news conference. ‘So this one, there’s a new fact here.’ The Philadelphia explosion was also the third industrial disaster since 2015 to involve HF, she said.” [E&E News, 10/16/19 (=)]

Rubio Says Fla. Ban Extension Not Likely This Year. According to E&E News, “Sen. Marco Rubio is still searching for a legislative vehicle to carry an extension of the current offshore drilling ban in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Republican said yesterday. ‘There probably won’t be one this year,’ Rubio told reporters. ‘But we hope at some point early next year there will be a vehicle that can pass, that the president will sign, that we can put it on. We’ve been working with Chairman Murkowski’s office to try and identify that.’ Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) leads both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. Murkowski last month told Rubio, who also sits on the Interior spending subcommittee, that she took ‘very seriously and very personally’ Rubio’s request for further discussion of the issue. The Alaska Republican pledged to work with him despite their ‘different views on offshore [drilling] in our respective regions.’ Rubio’s bill, S. 13, which Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott also supports, would stretch the current moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, home to important military testing, to 2027. The current moratorium expires in 2022. The bill, introduced in January, was referred to the ENR Committee. Asked if he had any idea what the legislative vehicle could be, Rubio said, ‘We have some, but obviously unless it’s a funding bill, it would have to be something that comes out of her [Murkowski’s] committee.’” [E&E News, 10/17/19 (=)]

Chad Ellwood

Climate Action Campaign

cellwood@cacampaign.com

202.448.2877 ext. 119