NASA Study Nails Fracking as Source of Massive Methane 'Hot Spot'
The 2,500-square mile plume is said to be the largest concentration of the potent greenhouse gas in the country
A NASA study released on Monday confirms that a methane "hot spot" in the Four Corners region of the American southwest is directly related to leaks from natural gas extraction, processing, and distribution.
The 2,500-square mile plume, first detected in 2003 and confirmed by NASA satellite data in October 2014, is said to be the largest concentration of atmospheric methane in the U.S. and is more than triple a standard ground-based estimate. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a highly-efficient greenhouse gas--84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and a significant contributor to global warming.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded primarily by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), surveyed industry sources including gas processing facilities, storage tanks, pipeline leaks, and well pads, as well as a coal mine venting shaft.
It found that leaks from only 10 percent of the individual methane sources are contributing to half of the emissions, confirming the scientists' suspicions that the mysterious hotspot was connected to the high level of fracking in the region.
There are more than 20,000 oil and gas wells operating in the San Juan Basin, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that overall annual gas production in the basin is as much as 1.3 trillion cubic feet, mostly from coal bed methane and shale formations.
"NASA's finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the 'hot spot' is not surprising," stated the Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm. "In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted."
The study further underscores how problematic current estimates of methane emissions from oil and gas operations are.
"To estimate methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a process-based approach that assumes a normal distribution of emissions for each process used in extraction, processing, and distribution," the authors wrote. "In reality, the flux distribution can be heavily skewed, resulting in a heavy-tailed distribution."
The Western Environmental Law Center expressed concern over the unknown sources of the remaining 50 percent of emissions and took issue with the study's conclusion that mitigation will only require "identifying and fixing a few emitters."
"The other 50 percent of methane emissions in the region cannot be ignored, and mitigating field-wide emissions will require the oil and gas industry to cut emissions from all sources, large and small, if we are to eliminate New Mexico's 'hot spot,'" the group states.
Citing a recent report by energy consultants with ICF International, Ramon Alvarez, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, notes that industry operations in the region have "the worst record in the nation" for methane leaks. "[V]enting, flaring, and leaks from oil and gas sites on federal and tribal land in New Mexico, alone, effectively threw away $100 million worth of gas in 2013," Alvarez wrote.
Both the NASA study and Alvarez point to new methane standards under development by the Obama administration as being key to reducing these emissions. But environmentalists contend that while these rules are "a welcome safeguard," as 350.org executive director May Boeve recently put it, "The only way to protect our communities from the risks of fracking, and stave off the worst impacts of climate change, is to keep fossil fuels in the ground."
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A NASA study released on Monday confirms that a methane "hot spot" in the Four Corners region of the American southwest is directly related to leaks from natural gas extraction, processing, and distribution.
The 2,500-square mile plume, first detected in 2003 and confirmed by NASA satellite data in October 2014, is said to be the largest concentration of atmospheric methane in the U.S. and is more than triple a standard ground-based estimate. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a highly-efficient greenhouse gas--84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and a significant contributor to global warming.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded primarily by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), surveyed industry sources including gas processing facilities, storage tanks, pipeline leaks, and well pads, as well as a coal mine venting shaft.
It found that leaks from only 10 percent of the individual methane sources are contributing to half of the emissions, confirming the scientists' suspicions that the mysterious hotspot was connected to the high level of fracking in the region.
There are more than 20,000 oil and gas wells operating in the San Juan Basin, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that overall annual gas production in the basin is as much as 1.3 trillion cubic feet, mostly from coal bed methane and shale formations.
"NASA's finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the 'hot spot' is not surprising," stated the Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm. "In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted."
The study further underscores how problematic current estimates of methane emissions from oil and gas operations are.
"To estimate methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a process-based approach that assumes a normal distribution of emissions for each process used in extraction, processing, and distribution," the authors wrote. "In reality, the flux distribution can be heavily skewed, resulting in a heavy-tailed distribution."
The Western Environmental Law Center expressed concern over the unknown sources of the remaining 50 percent of emissions and took issue with the study's conclusion that mitigation will only require "identifying and fixing a few emitters."
"The other 50 percent of methane emissions in the region cannot be ignored, and mitigating field-wide emissions will require the oil and gas industry to cut emissions from all sources, large and small, if we are to eliminate New Mexico's 'hot spot,'" the group states.
Citing a recent report by energy consultants with ICF International, Ramon Alvarez, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, notes that industry operations in the region have "the worst record in the nation" for methane leaks. "[V]enting, flaring, and leaks from oil and gas sites on federal and tribal land in New Mexico, alone, effectively threw away $100 million worth of gas in 2013," Alvarez wrote.
Both the NASA study and Alvarez point to new methane standards under development by the Obama administration as being key to reducing these emissions. But environmentalists contend that while these rules are "a welcome safeguard," as 350.org executive director May Boeve recently put it, "The only way to protect our communities from the risks of fracking, and stave off the worst impacts of climate change, is to keep fossil fuels in the ground."
A NASA study released on Monday confirms that a methane "hot spot" in the Four Corners region of the American southwest is directly related to leaks from natural gas extraction, processing, and distribution.
The 2,500-square mile plume, first detected in 2003 and confirmed by NASA satellite data in October 2014, is said to be the largest concentration of atmospheric methane in the U.S. and is more than triple a standard ground-based estimate. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a highly-efficient greenhouse gas--84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and a significant contributor to global warming.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded primarily by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), surveyed industry sources including gas processing facilities, storage tanks, pipeline leaks, and well pads, as well as a coal mine venting shaft.
It found that leaks from only 10 percent of the individual methane sources are contributing to half of the emissions, confirming the scientists' suspicions that the mysterious hotspot was connected to the high level of fracking in the region.
There are more than 20,000 oil and gas wells operating in the San Juan Basin, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that overall annual gas production in the basin is as much as 1.3 trillion cubic feet, mostly from coal bed methane and shale formations.
"NASA's finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the 'hot spot' is not surprising," stated the Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm. "In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted."
The study further underscores how problematic current estimates of methane emissions from oil and gas operations are.
"To estimate methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a process-based approach that assumes a normal distribution of emissions for each process used in extraction, processing, and distribution," the authors wrote. "In reality, the flux distribution can be heavily skewed, resulting in a heavy-tailed distribution."
The Western Environmental Law Center expressed concern over the unknown sources of the remaining 50 percent of emissions and took issue with the study's conclusion that mitigation will only require "identifying and fixing a few emitters."
"The other 50 percent of methane emissions in the region cannot be ignored, and mitigating field-wide emissions will require the oil and gas industry to cut emissions from all sources, large and small, if we are to eliminate New Mexico's 'hot spot,'" the group states.
Citing a recent report by energy consultants with ICF International, Ramon Alvarez, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, notes that industry operations in the region have "the worst record in the nation" for methane leaks. "[V]enting, flaring, and leaks from oil and gas sites on federal and tribal land in New Mexico, alone, effectively threw away $100 million worth of gas in 2013," Alvarez wrote.
Both the NASA study and Alvarez point to new methane standards under development by the Obama administration as being key to reducing these emissions. But environmentalists contend that while these rules are "a welcome safeguard," as 350.org executive director May Boeve recently put it, "The only way to protect our communities from the risks of fracking, and stave off the worst impacts of climate change, is to keep fossil fuels in the ground."