A RAND study published in the Environmental Research Letters Journal estimates air emissions from natural gas drilling and infrastructure caused from $7.2 million to $32 million in damage a in Pennsylvania in 2011.  The study concluded--

“At the  low end of our estimates, 66 percent of total damages in 2011 were attributable to long-term activities; at the high end, more than 80 percent of damages occur in the years after the well is developed.

“Nor are most emissions associated with well-site activities.

“More than half of emissions damages from this industry come from compressor stations, which may serve dozens of individual wells, including conventional ones. Our estimates indicate that regulatory agencies and the shale gas industry, in developing regulations and best practices, should account for air emissions from ongoing, long-term activities and not just emissions associated with development, such as drilling and hydraulic fracturing, where much attention has been focused to date.

“Even if development slows in the Marcellus region, as it did in 2012, the long-term nature of these emission sources will mean that any new development will add to this baseline of emissions burden as more producing wells and compressor stations come online.

“Development activities represent about a third or less of total extraction-related emissions (35–17 percent across the estimated range), whereas ongoing activities represent the majority of emissions (65–83 percent across the range). Compressor station activities alone represent 60–75 percent of all extraction associated damages.

“The emissions from Pennsylvania shale gas extraction represented only a few per cent of total statewide emissions, and the resulting statewide damages were less than those estimated for each of the state’s largest coal-based power plants.

“On the other hand, in counties where activities are concentrated, NOx emissions from all shale gas activities were 20–40 times higher than allowable for a single minor source, despite the fact that individual new gas industry facilities generally fall below the major source threshold for NOx.

“For example, Washington County had the fifth largest number of wells (156) in 2011 but resulted in the highest damages, estimated at $1.2–8.3 million. Damage in this county represented about 20 percent of statewide damages from the extraction industry

“Considering the relative importance of different pollutants, VOCs, NOx, and PM2:5 combined across all activities were responsible for 94 percent of total damages; across the range of estimates they contributed 34–33 percent, 59–20 percent, and 2–41 percent.”

A copy of the study is available online.  A video summary of the study is also available.

DEP Air Pollution Inventory

The Associated Press reported Friday a 2011 DEP inventory of air pollution from the natural gas industry amounted to about 4 percent of total air pollution by all industrial facilities in the state.

Drillers and other companies involved in the extraction, processing and transportation of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale accounted for nearly 9 percent of the nitrogen oxides and nearly 14 percent of the volatile organic compounds emitted from all so-called "point" sources of pollution statewide, according to DEP.

The survey did not take emissions from cars and trucks - the single largest source of air pollution - into account.

DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee is scheduled to talk about the 2011 natural gas industry air pollution inventory at their February 14 meeting.  The meeting will be in Room 105 Rachel Carson Building, Harrisburg, starting at 9:15.

Related Story: New Permit For Smaller Compressor Stations, Proposes Air Rules For Drill Sites

NewsClips:

PA Moves To Limit Air Emissions From Natural Gas Industry

DEP Plans New Pollution Limits For Well Sites, Compressors

Data Says Gas Industry Creates Fraction Of Air Pollution

DEP Reports Air Pollution From Shale Gas Industry

2/4/2013