The doors of a metal box slide open, and a drone rises over a gas well in Pennsylvania. Its mission: To find leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, so that energy companies can plug the leaks and reduce the emissions that pollute the air.
\nThe drone is among an array of instruments whose purpose is to detect leaks of methane, which scientists say causes roughly 30% of manmade global warming. Along with satellites, ground sensors and planes armed with infrared cameras, drones are part of the backbone of a new federal policy to compel energy companies to record and slash their methane emissions.
\nThe problem is, no one knows when \u2014 or even whether \u2014 that will be possible. Technology that might allow for precise methane measurements is still being developed. Under the Biden administration\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act, enacted into law last year, companies must start producing precise measurements of their methane emissions next year and face fines if they exceed permissible levels. Yet if no one knows how much methane an energy company has emitted, it\u2019s unclear that any fines could be justified.
\nEven energy companies that have begun developing systems to reduce their methane emissions are likely years away from being able to make comprehensive calculations Most of them are measuring leaks for only a fraction of their operations.
\nSatellites, which help connect emissions to a single source, aren\u2019t widely enough available. Ground-based sensors and drones require vast amounts of money and time to widely distribute.
\nOn top of all that, any agreement on what equipment would be acceptable to measure methane and how it should be used requires a rigorous process involving industry, government and environmental scientists.
\n\u201cWe need to develop these standards, and this can take years, so the process is slow,\u201d said Thomas Lauvaux, a climate scientist at University of Reims in France.
\nDespite the obstacles, climate scientists and environmentalists say they still welcome the administration\u2019s effort, under the Inflation Reduction Act, to slash methane emissions. Even if the timeline outlined in the law\u2019s methane reduction program is unrealistic, they say, it\u2019s likely to prod companies to accelerate their efforts to reduce leaks.
\n\u201cThe fact that there are these rules and now a pricing regime for methane for the first time is a huge benefit for dealing with the oil and gas sector that we just haven\u2019t had the tools to do until now,\u201d said Deborah Gordon, senior principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute, which seeks to accelerate a transition to clean energy.
\nUnder the new law, the EPA can fine companies $900 per ton of methane starting in 2024, rising to $1,500 in 2026. For companies with significant leaks, the costs could be substantial. Kayrros, a satellite analytics firm, observed a Texas natural gas compressor station that released about 2,000 tons of methane over eight days in 2020. That leak would trigger fines of of $1.8 million if it occurred in 2024 or $3 million in 2026.
\nMost energy companies don\u2019t measure their actual methane emissions. Instead, they produce estimates based on how much methane they say typically escapes from their equipment.
\nScientists have found that those estimates vastly understate the problem. Using data from satellites and aerial surveys, they concluded in peer-reviewed studies that nations and companies are emitting double or triple as much methane as they\u2019re reporting.
\n\u201cThe past three years have been the fastest-growing years on record in terms of methane emissions, which is kind of scary,\u201d said Daniel Jacob, a leading climate scientist at Harvard University. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely critical because ultimately, from the standpoint of evading climate change, you want to stop methane from increasing and you want it to start decreasing.\u201d
\nAnd while scientists count it as progress that energy companies will eventually have to accurately measure emissions of the destructive gas, it seems doubtful that this can be achieved within a year, after which the government could fine companies for emitting too much methane.
\n\u201cWe need many more satellites before we can even pretend that we are tracking,\u201d Lauvaux said.
\nThe companies that are now gathering emission measurements from planes, drones, ground sensors or infrared cameras on satellites face a significant obstacle: Those efforts are sporadic and cover only a sliver of the vast oil and gas industry.
\nThe EPA hasn\u2019t yet released details on how companies should measure methane emissions. And the task of sorting out the details falls on an EPA staff that was depleted under the Trump administration.
\nMethane, the main ingredient in natural gas, has been shown to produce roughly 80 times the climate-warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The gas is released from pipelines, storage tanks and energy facilities. It also wafts from landfills and the cattle industry. Scientists say a substantial reduction in the emissions is among the changes that could make the swiftest impact on climate change.
\nThough oil and gas companies have equipment to capture methane leaks, it\u2019s not widely deployed. Even the most advanced such equipment is often improperly installed or maintained and is prone to failure.
\n\u201cIf we can collectively get our act together over the next eight years and dramatically slash methane emissions around the planet, we still have a chance as a society to get our arms around the larger climate problem and avoid the worst impacts,\u201d said Riley Duren, CEO of Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit that analyzes emissions data from satellites and flights.
\nIn recent years, climate scientists and companies have found and fixed methane leaks using infrared cameras on airplanes or satellites. In a series of flights over California and other states since 2016, Carbon Mapper detected 8,000 methane plumes and published its findings on a public portal. When Carbon Mapper alerted the facilities to the problem, Duren said, roughly half the leaks were fixed.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s still a patchwork quilt,\u201d he said of the nation\u2019s ability to measure methane emissions. \u201cIt\u2019s not comprehensive and continuous, but it\u2019s becoming more expansive.\u201d
\nAided by philanthropic donations, Carbon Mapper hopes to launch a network of satellites that would share data publicly. It would start this year with two philanthropy-funded satellites that can detect roughly 200 methane plumes each day. (Planes can typically find 10 to 20 a day.)
\n\u201cThe goal is to expand to many more satellites, but that\u2019s contingent on securing the capital to do that,\u201d Duren said.
\nThe company has suggested that government help would be needed to operate at the scale necessary to combat climate change.
\nA handful of orbiting satellites can detect methane plumes and pinpoint the source of the leak within about 100 feet (30 meters). Most are privately owned by companies such as GHGSat, which sells data to energy companies. Using that data, scientists at a satellite data firm or energy company can try to pinpoint leaks and, based on the image and wind speed at the time, estimate how much methane was emitted.
\nYet there are limitations to the technology. Infrared cameras use the sun\u2019s rays, so they can\u2019t detect methane at night or on cloudy days. And they provide only a snapshot in time. So it can be hard to determine how much methane escaped before a leak was detected.
\nWith GHGSat\u2019s six orbiting satellites, the company can produce images of a site once every three to five days. The company plans to have 10 of them in orbit by year\u2019s end, after which it could observe each site roughly once a day.
\n\u201cThe biggest challenge for us is to scale faster, to offer the service to more people in more places around the world more often,\u201d said Stephane Germaine, president of GHGSat. \u201cHow do we respond to that in a way that is commercially viable, short of a government standing up and spending billions of dollars to deploy this kind of system?\u201d
\nDrones produced by American Robotics, like the one in Pennsylvania, have found unlit flares emitting methane. These drones can make several trips each day to check oil wells or storage tanks. But they\u2019re not widely deployed. American Robotics expects to have 30 drone systems deployed by year\u2019s end, said Reese Mozer, the company\u2019s CEO.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s more demand for our systems than we have the capacity to serve right now,\u201d Mozer said.
\nExxon Mobil has been using airplanes equipped with infrared cameras to find methane leaks for several years. But data from aerial flights is imperfect. A plane may fly over an oil production site for two or three seconds, perhaps six times a year.
\n\u201cThe problem with quantification is, you don\u2019t know what happens when the plane\u2019s not there,\u201d said Matt Kolesar, Exxon\u2019s chief environmental scientist. \u201cWhat was going on right before that airplane, and what was going on right after that airplane? And so that\u2019s where industry has always struggled to say, \u2018Do I assume it happens until I go look again? Do I assume it goes away?\u2019 \u201d
\nExxon is installing around-the-clock methane detectors in the Permian Basin, the nation\u2019s most productive oil and gas field, comprising large chunks of Texas and New Mexico. It\u2019s installed the sensors in 14 sites; its goal is to deploy sensors at 700 sites by 2025. But just 15% of the oil and gas Exxon produces comes from the Permian Basin. So most of Exxon\u2019s sites won\u2019t receive the sensors soon.
\n\u201cIt requires an awful lot of additional capacity, both continuous coverage and covering a much larger portion of the facilities,\u201d said Shindell, the Duke professor.
\nThousands of sites of methane leaks, he said, might exist in areas like the Permian Basin.
\n\u201cThere are just tons of lines that gather from wells and then compressor stations that move the gas along and then storage tanks and just one thing after another, so getting a sense of that really is a big endeavor,\u201d Shindell said. \u201cEven the best companies are not doing that. So it requires building this whole new system to improve understanding.\u201d
\nThe EPA is still in the early stages of implementing the climate law. The agency plans to propose a rule this year that would change emissions reporting rules to ensure that reporting and calculation of fines are based on empirical data, said Khanya Brann, an EPA spokeswoman.
\nThe EPA has also proposed allowing energy companies to use a broader range of technologies to detect methane leaks than what\u2019s now allowed. This could make it easier for varying types of companies to comply.
\nThe American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil and gas industry, wants companies to have the flexibility to use a variety of technologies. The API doesn\u2019t track how much of the industry already uses methane monitors, drones, aerial flights or satellite data to find and measure emissions, said Cole Ramsey, a vice president of the institute.
\n\u201cThis is a process that\u2019s going to take some time,\u201d Ramsey said.
\nThe challenges don\u2019t end with adding satellites and sensors. Any measurement system created by scientists must withstand legal challenges. If a company is accused of emitting methane, it could dispute the accuracy of the satellite images or the way scientists calculated how much leaked.
\n\u201cThe minute we release a policy,\u201d Lauvaux said, \u201cthey\u2019re going to jump at it with 50 lawyers and look at any loopholes, gaps, mistakes, unclear sentences.\u201d
\nEven so, climate scientists and environmentalists generally say they\u2019re hopeful that even if the system is imperfect, the eventual fines for improperly emitting methane would cause the offending companies to take the steps necessary to reduce emissions.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the great thing about the methane fee: There\u2019s actually a benefit to stopping it quickly because there\u2019s a financial reward for not leaking,\u201d said Gordon, of the Rocky Mountain Institute.
\n\u201cI think the problems are way smaller than the opportunity to finally, finally deal directly with a greenhouse gas \u2014 and especially a very powerful greenhouse gas that has never been on the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apnews<\/p>\n
Tags\uff1aEnergy leaks, methane, drones, air pollution<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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