In yet another reminder of why Donald Trump should never be allowed to get anywhere near the White House again — like, not even as a private citizen on a tour, because you know he’d pocket some historical shit — the Biden administration has rolled out a joint grant program from the EPA and the Energy Department to reduce methane leaks from the oil and gas sector. The grant program is part of $1.5 billion that Congress authorized in the Inflation Reduction Act for measuring and mitigating emissions of methane, a “super pollutant” that’s among the nastiest, most potent greenhouse gases out there.
Of course methane is also the main ingredient in “natural” gas, which has overtaken coal as the most common fuel used in generating electricity. Burning fossil gas releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing global warming; about the best that can be said for gas is that its carbon emissions are far lower than those from coal, but they’re plenty bad enough. And in its raw form, methane itself is a much more potent greenhouse gas by volume than CO2, about 84 to 86 times more harmful over 20 years, and 28 to 34 times worse over a century.
CO2 is still considered Climate Enemy Number One because there’s simply so damn much of it produced by fossil fuels, which is why we need to transition to renewable, carbon-free energy as quickly as possible. But because methane is so much more powerful — it’s estimated that it’s responsible for about a third of planet-warming emissions today — we’ll also get the greatest short-term reductions in warming by eliminating every source of methane emissions we can. Go ahead and say “most bang for the buck,” but don’t have any open flames around methane gas, please.
That’s why taking on methane has been a top priority in the Biden/Harris administration’s climate plan, which has also included fines against industry for methane leaks, the EPA’s new, tighter limits on methane emissions, and the creation of a global methane pledge to get international cooperation on cutting methane. (Hey, China, still need you to get on board with that!)
The new grant program, announced in late June, will attack methane emissions from three main directions, each with its own tranche of grant funding, according to Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk.
The first category will offer three [classes of] awards for projects focused on reducing emissions from existing oil wells and infrastructure, while the second will include up to 26 awards for addressing leaks in equipment prone to methane leaks — including engines and compressors.
The third category will go toward projects to enhance methane leak monitoring in communities near oil and gas facilities, especially those that are lower-income areas or communities of color, and will fund partnerships aimed at tracking methane emissions in specific oil and gas basins.
Well, there goes that Joe Biden again with the “Climate Justice” thing that’s been central to the administration’s climate policy from right off the bat. As with other parts of the Biden/Harris climate plan’s Justice40 Initiative, grant applicants will need to show that 40 percent of the benefits go to disadvantaged communities. The application process will open up in August.
As the Environmental Defense Fund explains, that first category of emissions reduction grants is aimed primarily at shutting down methane leaks from wells owned by fairly small operators, who might otherwise be unable to afford eliminating the leaks. Another part of that first tranche would go to stopping leaks on wells on Tribal lands.
Prioritizing marginal wells is crucial because despite producing only about 6% of the nation’s oil and gas, they’re responsible for approximately half of wellsite methane emissions. Inspecting these smaller producing wells on a regular basis is a key requirement in the nationwide oil and gas methane regulations finalized by EPA in December and this funding is specifically designed to assist states, tribes and the oil and gas industry in cutting emissions and complying with those rules.
The second category of grants is aimed at cleaning up the equipment and infrastructure in the industry, basically seed money for new methane emissions solutions that can be adopted and deployed widely.
And the third set of grants will increase monitoring of methane emissions, especially in frontline communities, because if you don’t measure where the pollution is, you can’t know what needs cleaning up. There too, the emphasis will be not only on monitoring specific sites, but also on developing tech and data collection methods that can be deployed not just in the US, but also by other nations.
Exciting, heady stuff, we know, but that’s part of how tackling climate change works: getting into the machinery of the oil and gas industry and reducing emissions wherever possible, while we’re also pursuing a wider energy transition to get off the fossil fuel teat altogether.
Not that everyone is on board yet. As E&E News notes:
In December, EPA announced a new rule that requires oil and gas operators to monitor for methane leaks and update their equipment to ensure it’s less prone to leaks. It also bans oil and gas companies from burning off — or flaring — excess gas at oil wells in most instances, among other things.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit challenging the rule earlier this year, alleging that it exceeds EPA’s authority.
And now that the Supreme Court has tossed out “Chevron deference” by deciding that federal agencies can’t actually regulate anything that Congress didn’t specify they can regulate, it remains to be seen whether Paxton’s seemingly laughable suit will get anywhere.
[E&E News / Energy Department / EDF / Photo by ‘2happy,’ Public Domain]
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Former US Sen. Jim Inhofe, defense hawk who called human-caused climate change a 'hoax,' dies at 89.
Also, Rush Limbaugh is still dead.
OT: Eet has begun.
Birb was contacted a leetle while ago by the work agency that is looking for jobs for me.
I told them I wanted to work from home.
The nice lady said I will get another call next week.