Methane Clips: July 19, 2022
GENERAL NEWS
Methane Is Leaking Over Native Grounds. Citizen Scientists Are Fighting Back. According to Yes! Magazine, ‘From behind her FLIR GF320 infrared camera, Kendra Pinto sees plumes of purple smoke otherwise invisible to the naked eye. They’re full of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they’re wafting out of an oil tank in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. Pinto, a member of the Diné (Navajo) community and field advocate with environmental group Earthworks, relies on this device in her fight to keep her community’s air clean. She lives in the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation, home to booming oil and gas production. ‘When I walk outside, I can’t just think about fresh air. I’m thinking about the VOCs. I’m thinking about the methane that I’m breathing in, because I know what’s out there,’ Pinto said. ‘I see it all the time.’ She’s one of countless citizen scientists across the country who are tracking and reporting environmental harms committed by the oil and gas industry to regulators. And here there are many: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that each year, New Mexico’s oil and gas companies emit more than 1.1 million metric tons of methane, a greenhouse gas around 86 times more potent in its warming potential than carbon dioxide over a twenty year period. Much of this comes from wasted natural gas -– $271 million of it in this state alone, according to the EDF. It leaks out of faulty equipment and is intentionally expelled through the processes of venting and flaring, in which excess, unrefined natural gas is released or burned from oil wells and refineries to eliminate waste or reduce pressure buildups. This is bad for the planet—high volumes of methane released into the atmosphere accelerate the pace of the climate crisis.’ [Yes! Magazine, 7/13/22 (=)]
US Oil And Gas Trio Join Methane Initiative. According to Upstream, ‘ConocoPhillips, Pioneer Natural Resources and Devon Energy have joined the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0 initiative, which aims to improve the transparency of methane emissions reporting. The initiative, initially composed of mostly European companies, intends to provide participating companies with the means to demonstrate they are contributing to climate mitigation and methane improvement targets while assuring stakeholders that greenhouse gases are being responsibly managed. ‘Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, is an important priority for ConocoPhillips, and we are pleased to join industry members and stakeholders to advance this important area of emissions management,’ said Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chief executive. ‘We believe that applying the rigorous OGMP 2.0 reporting standard across our global assets will be a vital step on our path to net-zero operational emissions by mid-century.’’ [Upstream, 7/18/22 (=)]
