Wyden’s Next Steps For Ensuring That The Shale Gas Expansion Provides Net Benefits

[ProSense]

Wyden’s Next Steps For Ensuring That The Shale Gas Expansion Provides Net Benefits

By Gwynne Taraska

Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, announced that he is seeking bipartisan agreement on a number of issues related to the expansion of shale gas production. These include the development of natural gas infrastructure and the control of methane leakage. His announcement came yesterday in a forum hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center on the impact of natural gas on the U.S. economy and geopolitics.

Given that methane is a powerful greenhouse gas –- trapping a hundred times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year timeframe –- leakage poses a serious threat to the climate and could counteract some of the emissions benefits of substituting natural gas for coal in the generation of electricity. New natural gas plants have emissions benefits compared to new coal plants if the methane leakage rate is below 3.2 percent from well to power plant delivery. Wyden yesterday endorsed a leakage target of 1 percent for future pipelines. “I’m going to look for ways to not just build more pipelines,” Wyden said, “but to build better pipelines.”

Wyden is also proposing that states and the federal government share the regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations. States, he says, should oversee “below ground” fracking activities such as well construction, given that they have intimate knowledge of local geology. The federal government, Wyden says, should oversee “above ground” activities such as the reporting of spills and the disclosure of fracking chemicals. Wyden’s proposal is therefore in sharp contrast to the current draft rule on fracking by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which applies only to public and tribal land and has been criticized for having insufficient disclosure requirements. Wyden has also called for the Department of Energy to engage the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the website FracFocus, which BLM’s current draft rule uses for chemical disclosures, to determine whether it provides adequate information to regulators. People should know whether there are spills or contaminants that affect their communities, Wyden said. “Transparency,” he said, “isn’t something that should stop at the state line.”

Wyden is additionally seeking bipartisan support for facilitating the use of natural gas in the transportation sector as well as clarifying the conditions under which the Department of Energy can revoke or suspend permits to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). “Whether you think exports are good or bad, reasonable people can agree that having clarity on the process involved is crucial,” Wyden said.

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/26/2364251/wydens-next-steps-for-ensuring-that-the-shale-gas-expansion-provides-net-benefits/

Wyden Lays out Priorities, Next Steps to Lock in America’s Natural Gas Advantage
http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/7/wyden-lays-out-priorities-next-steps-to-lock-in-america-s-natural-gas-advantage

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Wyden + "fracking" in the same sentence will cause nuclear head explosions.

Let alone Wyden + "bipartisan".

[think]

6. He's proposing coordination of regulations on fracking by states & Feds.

Why would that make heads explode?

Wyden kicks ass on all fronts!

[ProSense]

2. Kick! n/t

[freshwest]

3. Uff-Dah!

[Bluenorthwest]

4. More excellent work from Wyden. He is particularly correct about this part:

" States, he says, should oversee “below ground” fracking activities such as well construction, given that they have intimate knowledge of local geology."
That is of course not how it is today, but it sure would be wise policy. Oregon has no fraking 'wells' at this time, we have in the past but no more. There is reason for that fact.
There is consideration of a new extraction method for geo-thermal energy which is a form of fraking proposed for a volcanic site in Eastern Oregon. Early development stages, it of course faces strong opposition and because of that it is not being rushed willy nilly into existence they have already found ways to do it without the methane and all and I personally think it might be workable, although 'fraking a volcano' is obviously something of a hard sell around here at this point in time. But this is not traditional fraking, has nothing to do with natural gas and the process is radically different. I've done some reading on it and saw one presentation, so I'm not fully decided, I oppose the fraking being done in most of the nation because it is being done without proper protections.
This is why we as a very natural resource oriented state are happy to have Ron sitting right where he is.
And bipartisan is how we do it here. Republicans vote for our Progressive Democratic candidates many times because these days their own are crazy people who say 'radiation is good for you'.Ron's constituents in Eastern Oregon are largely Republicans who vote for Republicans but of course the geothermal project is in their backyard and thus must meet their approval.
Wyden is an excellent Senator and also a very busy one.

[ProSense]

7. But

"But this is not traditional fraking, has nothing to do with natural gas"

...it does have something to do with "natural gas"

Wyden Lays out Priorities, Next Steps to Lock in America’s Natural Gas Advantage

<...>

“In the economic Olympics, natural gas is helping the United States get out of the blocks,” said Wyden, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Natural gas provides stable, affordable energy for manufacturers who are bringing factories back to America for the first time in decades. It can stabilize household power bills. And it is 50 percent cleaner than other fossil fuels. Now that the United States has gotten out of the blocks, our country should act to make sure it doesn’t give up that lead.”

Wyden said he intends to reach out to other members to work on finding agreement on natural gas issues.

Wyden laid out four areas of potential opportunity to improve U.S. natural gas policy:

• On infrastructure, to speed up pipeline development, while also plugging the methane leaks that threaten the climate advantage that natural gas can provide.
  
  “I’m going to look for ways to not just build more pipelines, but to build better pipelines,” Wyden said.

<...>

http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/7/wyden-lays-out-priorities-next-steps-to-lock-in-america-s-natural-gas-advantage

[Bluenorthwest]

9. I was refering to the geothermal project being considered in Oregon which is not

a natural gas project. So I suppose you misread or perhaps I could have written more clearly. Obviously much of the fraking is all about natural gas, just none of that going on here in Oregon.
I fully support getting more control into local hands on these projects, it is a step in the right direction. I am not a supporter of fraking in general, but it is going on and should be done with as much attention to detail and safety as possible until it can be replaced with a better source. Same as with other energy sources that are not good for the environment but which we can not instantly replace it is better to mitigate the harm until we have better alternatives.

[ProSense]

11. Got it. n/t

[Cha]

5. thanks Pro

[limpyhobbler]

8. This is a horribly misguided policy.

The key part of the article is this

the longer-term climate consequences of natural gas use must be considered. CAP’s recent report shows that natural gas provides short-term benefits for emissions reductions but that increasing reliance on natural gas for electricity generation beyond the 2020s will cause the United States to fail to meet its climate targets, given that the combustion of natural gas produces significant carbon pollution, albeit less than the combustion of coal.

What's the point of trying to regulate an industry that will doom us if we are still using it 15 years from now?

Regulations that force up the cost of production could make it less attractive an investment, so that it would be good. But if this industry continues, even in the cleanest possible way, it's still deadly for the big picture.

Controls on drilling and pipeline emission, that might be ok. But natural gas vehicles are a just going to create a whole new industry that is hooked on fossil fuels. We should be talking electric cars, mass transit, and bicycles.

The only sane policy is to put everything we have into renewables, conservation, and adaptation. And start phasing out fossil fuels.

[ProSense]

12. Yes,

"The only sane policy is to put everything we have into renewables, conservation, and adaptation. And start phasing out fossil fuels. "

...but clearly Wyden see this as a transition.

“In the economic Olympics, natural gas is helping the United States get out of the blocks,” said Wyden, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Natural gas provides stable, affordable energy for manufacturers who are bringing factories back to America for the first time in decades. It can stabilize household power bills. And it is 50 percent cleaner than other fossil fuels. Now that the United States has gotten out of the blocks, our country should act to make sure it doesn’t give up that lead.”

http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/7/wyden-lays-out-priorities-next-steps-to-lock-in-america-s-natural-gas-advantage

[NickB79]

10. "A leakage target of 1%". HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Good luck with that. Current wells have been found running between 4-9%:

http://www.nature.com/news/methane-leaks-erode-green-credentials-of-natural-gas-1.12123

The researchers, who hold joint appointments with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado in Boulder, first sparked concern in February 2012 with a study1 suggesting that up to 4% of the methane produced at a field near Denver was escaping into the atmosphere. If methane — a potent greenhouse gas — is leaking from fields across the country at similar rates, it could be offsetting much of the climate benefit of the ongoing shift from coal- to gas-fired plants for electricity generation.

Industry officials and some scientists contested the claim, but at an American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, California, last month, the research team reported new Colorado data that support the earlier work, as well as preliminary results from a field study in the Uinta Basin of Utah suggesting even higher rates of methane leakage — an eye-popping 9% of the total production. That figure is nearly double the cumulative loss rates estimated from industry data — which are already higher in Utah than in Colorado.

And these are just the FIELD leakage rates. 9% is BEFORE they factor in the leakage from pipes, transfer stations, etc.

"Clean, green" natural gas derived from fracking is a myth.

[ProSense]

13. Interesting. n/t