The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6 department is conducting helicopter flyovers over the Permian Basin to identify “super-emitters” of methane gas among oil and gas operations, according to an Aug. 1 news release.
The flyovers will use infrared cameras to inspect hundreds of oil and gas activities in the Permian Basin region of West Texas and southeast New Mexico until Aug. 15, according to the press release. [bold, links added]
The agency hopes to use aerial surveillance to identify large emitters of methane and excessive volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids that may cause adverse health effects, as well as address any noncompliance indicated by the flyovers through EPA administrative enforcement actions and referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“It’s just a way to intimidate the oil and gas industry,” Steve Milloy, member of former President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The EPA’s conduct is outrageous.”
A technician on board the helicopter will record the time, GPS location, and other details regarding the source of emissions after detecting hydrocarbon emissions.
The federal agency will use this data to locate the source of the emissions and then question facility managers about the violations.
The EPA can impose severe fines on offenders and continue to keep an eye on them to make sure they’re taking the necessary steps to address excessive emissions.
“Biden’s EPA is doing everything to make gas prices higher,” Milloy said.
The area creates large amounts of methane and VOC emissions that are [claimed to] contribute to climate change and poor air quality, according to the press release.
VOCs can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, nausea, migraines, as well as damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, according to the EPA.
“There’s no place in the United States where air quality threatens anybody’s health, even the worst air quality may technically violate EPA standards, but none of that is a health risk,” Milloy stated.
“The flyovers are vital to identifying which facilities are responsible for the bulk of these emissions and therefore where reductions are most urgently needed,” said Region 6 administrator Dr. Earthea Nance in a press release.
The EPA proposed new regulations on the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions in November 2021.
The agency is mulling whether to declare areas of West Texas and eastern New Mexico in violation of federal limits on ozone pollution.
Read rest at Daily Caller
In the refining industry we test every piping flange, valve bonnet, etc every quarter for leaks. There are tens of thousands of these fittings even in a small refinery. We take immediate action to repair any leaks.
Oil fields have a fraction of that complexity, so for them to do leak tests and subsequent repair should not be that big of a deal. The wells should be grouted and sealed to prevent leaks, and if not should be remediated.
This is just good operating practice. If there are rogue operators then maybe they shouldn’t be in the business.
Dave, totally agree. Any legitimate operator in the upstream segment of the business has little fear of an EPA flyover.
One other editorial comment. If the EPA does identify any “super emitters,” that needs to be corrected. My guess is this will (mostly) be a waste of time but it does have the potential to quiet a major activist “talking point” that industry methane emissions in the Permian are out of control. Let’s just all “hold our fire” and see where the FACTS lead.
Well, for starters, every oil & gas operator understands there are existing emissions standards that must be met in compliance with existing EPA regulations. Meeting those requirements are necessary to keep a region out of “Non Attainment” status. Really no different than the criteria established for urban areas such as Denver or LA. If you are running a legitimate, fully compliant O & G operation and monitoring your facilities with applicable FLIR technology, I don’t think you have a whole lot to worry about. Allowing excessive amounts of methane to “escape” is just not a good business model. Wasting revenue. Not SAFE either around fired vessels, so plenty of incentive to minimize methane leakage. As far as the “flyovers,” nothing (really) new (here). The Environmental Defense Fund amongst other environmental NGO’s have been making claims against industry for several years now using aerial reconnaissance. Most of those cases identified, to my knowledge, have fallen flat after subsequent TCEQ investigations. Lastly, you cannot accurately “gauge” point source emissions (strictly) from aerial or satellite surveillance. Unless you sample on-site & use both a top down/bottoms up analysis, you won’t get fully accurate/creditable data. just the limitations & complexities of air sampling & modeling. As a former industry compliance officer, I would not be losing much sleep. So, quite frankly, I see this as a NOTHING BURGER for the most part…
How much Fossil Fuels is the EPA burning up in order to do this spying on the Ail wells?
Schoolchildren are being taught they’ve got twelve years left to live. From the climate! Ridiculous. Communist China delights in our self-destructive paranoia. It’s nothing but a left-wing science fiction fantasy. We live in the best fed, longest living, most prosperous human and environmental conditions we’ve ever had. So-called “journalists” have no idea that all life dies without CO2. No idea greenhouse growers have to add up to 1,600ppm CO2 to their operations because the atmosphere is dangerously LOW in CO2! Far too many schoolteachers and most of the mainstream media don’t even get the basics of CO2 biology. Life is composed entirely of little carbon sacks of water we call cells. That’s the environment they purport to love and don’t even begin to understand. Only idiots would believe 0.04% of the atmosphere drives the climate. Climate moves in two natural cycles during our ongoing 3 million year old (so far) Pleistocene/Quaternary Ice Age. (The coldest earth has been since the beginning of multicellular life nearly 600 million years ago.) A one hundred thousand year glacial/interglacial cycle where temperatures vary 12 degree C. And a four degree C, nine hundred year, cycle within a cycle during interglacial phases. We are nearing the warm peak of the latest nine hundred year natural 4 degree C warming phase during this 21st century. The entire history of the thermometer exists in a warming trend that started a hundred years before the invention of the thermometer! Too bad they don’t teach meteorologists a little about climate. It’s not that difficult.