DEP targets air pollutants to combat methane from existing wells
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s first step toward cutting emissions of methane from thousands of existing shale gas wells will not target the greenhouse gas directly.
Instead, the state Department of Environmental Protection is planning to implement federal guidelines for cutting smogcausing pollutants that will, as a side benefit, reduce methane escaping from some types of well site equipment, according to concepts the agency outlined at an advisory meeting on Thursday.
The strategy has frustrated environmental groups who are concerned that it will leave many sources of methane leaks at current well sites unchecked, especially in regions of the state where gas from the Marcellus Shale carries too little of the smog-forming volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, to trigger the proposed controls.
“Focusing only on the VOC element puts Pennsylvania not only significantly behind other leading natural gas-producing states, but also leaves a big swath of the emissions mix on
the table,” Andrew Williams, a regulatory affairs director with the Environmental Defense Fund, said.
Gov. Tom Wolf laid out a strategy in 2016 for curbing methane emissions across the state’s shale gas industry, including new wells, existing wells and pipelines.
Permits to address emissions from future wells and other infrastructure are expected to be published in the first quarter of 2018, but regulations for existing sources have been slower to develop.
Methane is a more powerful, but shorter-lived greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and minimizing leaks is seen as crucial to realizing the climate benefits of using natural gas instead of fuels like coal.
Nearly 7,000 shale wells were drilled in Pennsylvania before the state’s current air pollution requirements for preventing and fixing leaks took effect in August 2013. Another 4,000 wells have been drilled since then.
The guidelines published by the U.S. Environmental PowerSource Protection Agency in October 2016 cover only certain equipment at existing gas facilities — storage tanks, compressors and pneumatic controllers and pumps — and they set recommended standards for leak detection and repair.
DEP signaled in the past that it planned to use the federal guidelines as a platform for regulating methane from existing shale gas wells, and said last year it would “enhance” the EPA’s recommendations for controlling VOCs.
But the concepts described on Thursday almost exactly mirror the EPA’s recommendations, except for maintaining the state’s more stringent standards for tanks installed after August 2013.
DEP officials said controlling the smog-forming compounds will reduce methane, since both are commingled in natural gas.
George Hartenstein, DEP’s deputy secretary in charge of air programs, said the concepts for controlling emissions from existing wells are in the early stages of discussion and establish a floor for future considerations.
“We haven’t made a final decision,” on whether to establish thresholds for directly controlling methane from existing wells, he said. “I wouldn’t say we don’t plan to. This has just been a concept out there right now.”
Pennsylvania has until October 2018 to develop a regulation to satisfy the EPA guidelines. The changes will then have to be implemented by January 2021.