Methane Emissions in PA Continue to Drop As Natural Gas Production Increases
Thursday January 21, 2016
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf held a Town Hall meeting on social media this week to discuss air emissions, climate change and a new proposed set of regulations targeted at the methane emissions from the natural gas industry. But what wasn’t really discussed is how voluntary best management practices across the Marcellus Shale have already led to a substantial drop in methane emissions in the Commonwealth. Marcellus Shale Coalition President David Spigelmyer explained this to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
“These positive results are a function of the industry’s widespread use of operational best practices and continuous investments aimed at protecting and enhancing our environment. We welcome Gov. Wolf’s efforts to expand new manufacturing opportunities in the commonwealth through affordable homegrown natural gas and are committed to working with lawmakers as well as state officials to focus on common-sense policies that encourage job-creating natural gas development.”
In fact, the latest Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) air emissions inventory, which included data from 2013 and was released in April 2015, showed that methane emissions were down 13 percent since 2012 — all while natural gas production increased.
Further, in May 2015 researchers at Drexel University released a study that low levels of air emissions at well sites across the Marcellus Shale. From that study:
“Most notably, we did not observe elevated levels of any of the light aromatic compounds (benzene, toluene, etc.) that have previously been observed in oil and NG operations. With the exception of...