Environment

GAO Says Environmental Well Inspections Are Falling Short

Source: Fuel Fix | 27 September 2013

Environmental inspections of oil and gas facilities on public lands have soared since 2007, but federal investigators said on 23 September that the government is doing a poor job of targeting the riskiest sites.

In a new report, the Government Accountability Office faulted the Bureau of Land Management for not including information about the environmental inspection history of many wells in its central database for tracking oil and gas facilities on public lands.

As a result, the inspection prioritization process “does not have sufficient information to ensure that wells receiving inspections are those that pose the greatest environmental risk,” said the GAO, Congress’ investigative arm. Other problems include “inconsistent documentation of inspections and enforcement actions and challenges with retaining and hiring environmental staff in some offices.”

Fracturing May Not Be as Bad for the Climate as We Thought

Source: The Washington Post | 27 September 2103

At first glance, the shale-gas boom in the United States looks like good news for efforts to tackle global warming. Cheap natural gas is pushing out dirtier coal in the power sector, which is one reason U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions have fallen 12% since 2005.

But there’s always been a massive caveat to this story—methane. If too much methane is leaking out of our natural-gas infrastructure, then the shale boom might be worsening climate change. And we don’t quite know how much methane is seeping out, exactly.

That’s why a new study on methane leaks by The University of Texas is such a big deal. By taking detailed measurements from select wells around the country, the study found that leaks from shale-gas hydraulic fracturing appear to be quite low—which implies that swapping out coal for shale gas is indeed beneficial from a climate perspective.

Gas Flaring Increases Despite Environmental and Health Concerns

Source: The Globe and Mail | 10 September 2013

Canada’s oil and gas industry is burning off an increasing amount of natural gas into the atmosphere, a controversial practice known as flaring, driven by a drop in natural gas prices and an increase in unconventional and remote drilling.

After years of making progress to reduce flaring, the oil and gas industry acknowledges it has been backsliding and needs to capture more of the gas for both economic and environmental reasons.

The recognition comes as environmental groups and people living near flaring sites are calling on the industry, government, and regulators to take more action, given the potential health and environmental affects of releasing chemicals, greenhouse gases and particles during open-flame burning.

“We’ve seen some migration back to additional flaring,” said David Pryce, vice-president of operations at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

“We know we have a performance expectation we have to meet. … Industry is trying to strike the balance of enabling the site to be produced and addressing the concerns that might be there, as well.”

Study Claims Fish Kill Resulted From Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Spill

Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service | 29 August 2013

Hydraulic fracturing fluids are believed to be the cause of the widespread death or distress of aquatic species in Kentucky’s Acorn Fork, after spilling from nearby natural gas well sites. These findings are the result of a joint study by the US Geological Survey and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Blackside dace are a colorful minnow found in parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and western Virginia. (Conservation Fisheries via US Fish and Wildlife Service)

The Acorn Fork, a small Appalachian creek, is habitat for the federally threatened Blackside dace, a small colorful minnow. The Acorn Fork is designated by Kentucky as an Outstanding State Resource Waters.

“Our study is a precautionary tale of how entire populations could be put at risk even with small-scale fluid spills,” said USGS scientist Diana Papoulias, the study’s lead author. “This is especially the case if the species is threatened or is only found in limited areas, like the Blackside dace is in the Cumberland.”

The Blackside dace typically lives in small, semi-isolated groups, so harmful events run the risk of completely eliminating a local population. The species is primarily threatened with loss of habitat.

After the spill of hydraulic fracturing fluid, state and federal scientists observed a significant die-off of aquatic life in Acorn Fork including the Blackside dace as well as several more common species like the Creek chub and Green sunfish. They had been alerted by a local resident who witnessed the fish die-off. The Service and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are currently working toward restoration of the natural resources that were injured by the release.

 

 

 

Hold the Water: Some Firms Fracture Without It

Source: Fuel Fix | 27 August 2013

The use of one precious fluid—water—to recover another—oil—chafes in dry country. Rivers and groundwater are receding in Texas for lack of rain and overpumping just when the demand for water in new oil and gas fields is growing.

Now, one exploration and production company in San Antonio is fracturing its wells mostly without water, using gas liquids instead, in a practice that is beginning to spread.

Fracturing, or fracking, refers to using fluid under pressure to create fissures held open by sand. Oil or gas flow back through these channels and up through a well.

BlackBrush Oil & Gas is using a butane-rich mix for fracturing after being confounded by many of the same obstacles other energy companies face in buying, moving, and disposing of large amounts of water.

“Ranchers don’t want to give up their water,” said Jasen Walshak, production manager at BlackBrush.

Oil-Sands Industry Uses Algae To Lower Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Source: Bloomberg | 13 August 2013

Canada’s response to President Barack Obama’s challenge to reduce emissions of global-warming gases from the oil sands starts with sewage and algae.

The paste-like crude extracted from oil sands is softened by heat and steam to make it flow though pipelines. Burning natural gas to process the fuel creates carbon dioxide that researchers say can be mixed with waste water and fed to algae, which can be processed into cattle feed and other products.

“We’re taking CO2 and making it into a valuable product,” said John Parr, vice president at Canadian Natural Resources, the country’s third-largest oil-sands producer by market value. “There’s a business case that can be made for it.”

Louisiana Agency Sues Oil Firms Over Wetlands

Source: Reuters | 1 August 2013

A Louisiana agency sued 97 oil companies—including BP, ExxonMobil , Chevron, and Royal Dutch Shell—in state court for allegedly damaging hundreds of miles of sensitive wetlands by cutting through them with pipelines and transportation canals.

Gov. Bobby Jindal quickly accused the agency of overreach and said the filing should be withdrawn.

The suit demands the oil industry pay for or remediate environmental damages stemming from decades of work that allegedly caused erosion and hurt coastal wetlands—which experts say serve as critical buffers during floods and higher ocean swells from hurricanes.

 

Experts: Gas in Gulf Blowout Is Less Damaging

Source: Boston Herald | 1 August 2013

A blown-out natural gas well blazing off Louisiana’s coast poses fewer environmental dangers than past offshore accidents because it appears to primarily involve gas that disperses relatively easily, scientists said.

“A gas well’s not going to result in any kind of major pollution—perhaps not even significant pollution if it’s burning,” said Ted Bourgoyne, the former chairman of Louisiana State University’s petroleum engineering department.

Groups Petition EPA To Amend Greenhouse Gas Reporting Requirements for Oil and Gas Sector

Source: BakerHostetler via Mondaq | 1 August 2013

The EPA recently posted a 19 March 2013 petition for rulemaking by environmental groups seeking to amend the regulations governing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems source category (Subpart W) of EPA’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (Mandatory Reporting Rule), 40 C.F.R. § 98.230 et seq. The petition seeks three changes to these regulations.

First, the petition seeks to “expand the scope” of greenhouse gas reporting obligations to include wells that co-produce oil and natural gas.

Second, the petition seeks to revoke the exclusion of gathering and boosting facilities from coverage under the natural gas processing segment and the natural gas transmission compression segment under Subpart W of the Mandatory Reporting Rule.

Third, the petition seeks to eliminate, by the end of the year, the option to use best available monitoring methods in lieu of the methods otherwise required under Subpart W.

 

Report Urges Comprehensive Study of Deepwater Horizon Effects

Source: Endangered Species & Wetlands Report | 16 July 2013

While numerous studies are under way to determine the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, the extent and severity of these effects and the value of the resulting losses cannot fully be measured without considering the goods and services provided by the Gulf, says a new report from the National Research Council. The congressionally mandated report offers an approach that could establish a more comprehensive understanding of the effects and help inform options for restoration activities.

 

Watson Plans To Resign as Director of BSEE

Source: Rigzone | 9 July 2013

Bureau of Environmental Safety and Enforcement (BSEE) Director James A. Watson will resign from BSEE and join the maritime classification society ABS on 2 September as president and chief operating officer of its Americas division.

Watson will replace Robert Gilman, who will move to the ABS Group of Companies as senior vice president of technical inspection services within the ABS affiliated company, Houston-based ABS said on 9 July.

In his new role at ABS, Watson will oversee activity in North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean. He will be based at the Division’s headquarters in Houston.

“Director Watson has served with distinction and has helped implement the most aggressive and comprehensive offshore oil and gas regulatory reforms in the nation’s history,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.

IPIECA Releases Briefing on Adaptation

Source: IPIECA | 9 July 2013

As responses to climate change extend beyond greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, governments and companies increasingly recognize the need to integrate adaptation planning and implementation into balanced risk-management strategies. In this context, the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) has released its awareness briefing titled Addressing Adaptation in the Oil and Gas Industry.

The briefing is intended for anyone with an interest in the role of adaptation planning. It examines oil and gas industry awareness of climate-change-related risks and identifies appropriate responses and ways in which these responses are being integrated into broad risk-management frameworks. Structured to provide an overview of the adaptation planning process, the document includes:

  • Examples of climate risks identified by the oil and gas industry
  • An outline of risk-evaluation processes related to specific potential effects
  • In-use examples of risk adaptation and management