EPA’s proposed limits on power plant emissions would accelerate shift from coal to natural gas

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Coal-fired power plants currently produce about 46 percent of the country’s electricity. Photo via Wikipedia and the Creative Commons.

Study compares economic sensitivity of gas and coal-fired power plants

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Proposed new limits on power plant emissions could spur a big shift away from coal and toward natural gas. The new rules on sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and mercury may make nearly two-thirds of the nation’s coal-fired power plants as expensive to run as plants powered by natural gas, according to a new Duke University study.

“Because of the cost of upgrading plants to meet the EPA‘s pending emissions regulations and its stricter enforcement of current regulations, natural gas plants would become cost-competitive with a majority of coal plants — even if natural gas becomes more than four times as expensive as coal,” said Lincoln F. Pratson, a professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. (more…)

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Environment: Texas gas company hit with $200,000 fine after polluting air in southwest Colorado for 12 years

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A natural gas drilling rig. Photo via Wikipedia and the Creative Commons.

Cleanup slated at the Ignacio Gas Treating Plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — A Texas-based energy company has been hit with a $207,150 Clean Air Act fine after polluting the air around Ignacio, Colorado for more than 10 years.

After working with the EPA to resolve the alleged violations, Texas-based Elm Ridge Exploration Company, LLC will clean up its act at the Ignacio Gas Treating Plant located on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. The company will also pay $67,850 in unpaid permit fees.

The plant has been in operation since 1999, accepting low-pressure raw and untreated natural gas from about 140 surrounding wells in the Ignacio Blanco Gas Field in La Plata County. The plan became a major source of nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde in 2000.

A 2010 inspection showed that the plant failed to show continuous compliance with various emissions standards and that the operators failed to obtain a required permit. (more…)

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A small carbon tax on coal could help drive shift to natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The Mojave generating station, near Laughlin, Nevada. PHOTO VIA WIKIPEDIA AND THE CREATIVE COMMONS.

Harvard study tracks energy use, emissions during the 2009 recession

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A slight shift in the relative prices of coal and natural gas could pay big dividends in the quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Harvard researchers who said that, when the United States fell into the 2009  recession, greenhouse gas emissions also fell, by 6.59 percent relative to 2008.

They said that, in the power sector, the recession was not the main cause. Instead, it was a decrease in the price of natural gas reduced the industry’s reliance on coal.

According to the econometric model developed by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, emissions could be cut further by the introduction of a carbon tax, with negligible impact on the price of electricity for consumers. (more…)

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A switch to natural gas may not slow global warming

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

A natural gas drilling rig in Texas, via the Creative Commons.

Methane leaks a wild card in energy and climate change equation

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A new study from a senior researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research challenges the conventional wisdom that shifting from coal to natural gas would help slow the rate of global warming. The findings suggest that a partial worldwide shift to natural gas could actually accelerate climate change through at least 2050, even if without methane leaks from gas production.

Methane is a potent heat-trapping gas and it’s unclear how much methane is released during natural gas production. The picture is further complicated by the fact that coal combustion also releases large amounts of sulfates and other particles that tend to cool temperatures by blocking incoming solar radiation — as bad as those byproducts may be for the environment.

“Relying more on natural gas would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, but it would do little to help solve the climate problem,” said researcher Tom Wigley, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia. “It would be many decades before it would slow down global warming at all, and even then it would just be making a difference around the edges.” (more…)

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U.S. shale gas boom could tilt global ‘petro-power’ balance

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Conservative think tank advocates for responsible development of  domestic resources, saying increased U.S. production could curb Russia’s petro-power

U.S. natural gas production could quadruple in the next 30 years.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — In Colorado, the debate over natural gas production from shale formations like those in the northwestern part of the state often focuses on environmental impacts, including the growing fragmentation of wildlife habitat and concerns about air and water quality from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

But there’s also a geopolitical dimension dimension to the rising tide of U.S. gas production. By some recent estimates, shale-gas production will quadruple by 2040, to more than 40 billion cubic feet per day. And that level of production has the potential to affect Russia’s ability to wield an “energy weapon” over its European customers, according to a recent study by the Baker institute. (more…)

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Colorado oil and gas drillers drop challenge to new rules

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Oil drillers in Colorado drop challenge to new regs.

Pit liners to be treated as solid waste

By Summit Voice

The Colorado Petroleum Association this week withdrew its petition to roll back one of Colorado’s landmark 2008 oil and gas regulations. Specifically, Rule 905 requires companies to dispose of the pit liners in accordance with state solid waste laws.

The CPA pit liner petition was withdrawn at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s (COGCC) regular meeting on Monday.

“CPA should be commended for its willingness to work within existing COGCC rules,” said Earthjustice staff attorney Michael Freeman. “Rule 905 simply requires oil and gas companies to play by the same rules that apply to other industries doing business in Colorado.  Those environmental laws protect Colorado communities, our drinking water, and our land.” (more…)

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Natural gas drilling set to start beneath U.S. Capitol

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Operation to include precendent-setting safeguards

Natural gas drilling, aided by fracking, will soon begin beneath the U.S. Capitol to help bolster America's energy independence.

By Summit Voice

Washington D.C. — Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers announced April 1 that natural gas deposits were discovered on U.S. Capitol grounds during the construction of the underground Capitol Visitor center. The discovery — made prior to the visitor center’s opening in 2008 — was announced today after mineral rights and jurisdictional issues were resolved allowing leasing to proceed and gas production oversight to be implemented.

An unsuspected natural gas bearing shale formation — similar to the Marcellus Shale underlying middle Appalachian states, the Barnett Shale in north-central Texas, and other shale gas plays around the country — was uncovered as the pit was dug for the several stories deep undergound Capitol visitor center.  The new visitor center was deemed necessary in the wake of 9/11 to mitigate the possibility of terrorist attack on the Capitol Building.

It is this type of shale gas, now accessible because of a recent gas production innovation known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) that has increased U.S. natural gas reserves to the point that President Obama made natural gas part of his Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future announced on Wednesday at Georgetown University. (more…)

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Energy: The FRAC Act is back in Congress

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

A U.S. Government map shows where there are potential reserves of natural gas captured in shale and sand.

Proposed law would require disclosure of chemicals used in controversial gas-driling technique and end a Bush-era exemption from the drinking water regulations

By Summit Voice

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SUMMIT COUNTY — Residents of natural gas patches around the country who have seen their drinking water polluted to the point that it sometimes catches fire would get some relief under the FRAC Act.

The proposed law, introduced this week in Congress for the third time, would require energy companies to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, and most importantly, close a loophole that exempts drilling operators from drinking water regulations. (more…)

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Entire Wyoming town sickened from gas drilling

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

Pavilion, Wyoming residents are concerned about the health impacts associated with natural gas drilling.

Residents call for more investigations, better enforcement of state and federal water quality regulations

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A health survey from a town in a Wyoming natural gas patch is out, and the news is not good.

As many as 94 percent of the residents in the town of Pavilion and the surrounding area are reporting symptoms consistent with the effects of the chemicals pinpointed by the EPA in local drinking water wells. The EPA studied the area last year as part of a Superfund investigation.

Read a ProPublica investigative report on pollution in the Pavilion area here.

The voluntary health survey was conducted by Wilma Subra on behalf of regional and community environmental groups.  Subra is a chemist and MacArthur Genius award winner renown for her work with communities impacted by industrial contamination.

(more…)

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