Methane emissions from natural gas development in Pennsylvania is a major problem. A greenhouse gas, methane is emitted from leakage through natural gas production.
Methane emissions are a considerable threat to climate change, posing over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame.
So when you think “quick action” on climate change, reducing methane emissions needs to be an important step in the process.
On June 25th the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution (H.J.Res.34) pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (‘CRA’) to restore EPA rules limiting oil and gas methane pollution from new wells, processing plants, and other facilities across the...
In partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), PEC submitted the attached comments to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on their proposed rulemaking to control emissions of VOCs and Methane from existing natural gas operations and equipment. Reducing...
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today presented a draft rule to cut emissions of methane to the state’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB), kickstarting a rulemaking process that seeks to address climate impacts from the natural gas industry. The...
Royal Dutch Shell is an important producer in Pennsylvania and has set a strong standard for industry leadership. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council applauds Shell for opposing the rollback of the EPA methane rule and supporting stronger regulation for new and...
Pennsylvania has taken an important and long-awaited step toward substantially reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations. With new monitoring and emissions requirements now in place for new and modified facilities and operations, we turn our full attention toward...
PEC and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) have sent the following joint statement to House members in opposition to House Bill 2154, weakening environmental protections in relation to oil and gas production. April 30, 2018 To: Members of the...
PEC and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) have sent the following joint statement to Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee members in opposition to Senate Bill 1088, concerning environmental protection and performance standards for the conventional oil and gas industry. ...
PEC has sent the following communication to the Governor and General Assembly in opposition to tax code legislation that was amended to include two provisions which fundamentally alter environmental permitting and protections. Click here to identify your legislator and let...
We at PEC recently had the honor of hosting a conference on Deep Decarbonization of the electricity grid in March of this year. Our main, selfish, goal was to learn more about the science, technology, and policy at play in...
PEC sent the following letter on Senate Bill 175 to members of the Pennsylvania Senate today: Dear Senators: On behalf of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), I am writing to convey our opposition to Senate Bill 175. This legislation prevents...
John Walliser, Senior Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, outlines PEC’s recent initiatives in the policy sector, ranging from longwall mining and implementation of the Clean Power Plan to methane emissions. Walliser not only summarizes PEC’s work from the...
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is pleased with today’s announcement from the White House concerning methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The announcement bridges several areas of concern we have regarding the growth of shale gas operations in Pennsylvania...
Nobody knows exactly how many orphaned oil and gas wells dot the Pennsylvania landscape – even conservative estimates put the number well into the hundreds of thousands. Every day these defunct facilities remain unplugged, they’re emitting greenhouse gases, contaminating groundwater,...
As Pennsylvania weighs a new DEP rule that would expand leak detection and repair requirements for oil and gas producers, there’s new research on the integrity of relatively low-producing “stripper” wells. Such facilities would remain exempt under Pennsylvania’s current rulemaking,...
Fixing leaks in the natural gas supply chain is critical to reducing Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions, and proposed new requirements for gas facilities would hold operators accountable for detecting and repairing them. With estimated emissions from gas operations exceeding a...
As the Department of Environmental Protection gathers public comment on a proposed rulemaking to cut emissions of climate-changing methane from Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry, new data from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) paints a stark picture of what’s at stake:...
First, the bad news: oil and gas facilities are emitting huge volumes of methane – the primary component of natural gas – into the atmosphere. The climate impact of those emissions is many times greater than that of carbon dioxide,...