“Industry-led efforts to reduce emissions through investments in new technologies and equipment are paying off.” – API
Methane emissions from oil and natural gas production fell even as US production rose dramatically, according to EPA’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory released late Friday, but API is raising concerns over the new Environmental Protection Agency methodology.
“EPA has made a significant change in its inventory methodology, and we believe it is seriously flawed,” said Kyle Isakower, American Petroleum Institute VP of regulatory and economic policy.
“Industry-led efforts to reduce emissions through investments in new technologies and equipment are paying off. Even as oil and natural gas production has risen dramatically, we believe methane emissions from production are falling as shown by previous EPA greenhouse gas inventories.”
The EPA says that this year’s inventory incorporates significant new emissions data from its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and other sources and claims that methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are higher than previously estimated. The oil and gas sector is the largest emitting-sector for methane and accounts for a third of total US methane emissions, the EPA said in a press release.
Isakower says industry will continue to make substantial progress to reduce emissions voluntarily and under existing EPA regulations.
“Methane is natural gas, so producers already have every incentive to capture and sell it rather than let it escape in the atmosphere,” he said in a press release.
“New regulations on methane from EPA and other agencies could actually harm our progress reducing emissions.
By implementing a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach, the administration could dampen America’s shale energy revolution, Isakower says.
“Instead, the administration should allow the private sector to continue to innovate and deliver more natural gas to customers,” he said.
“Safe and responsible development of energy from shale has helped America become the world leader in reducing emissions, with carbon dioxide emissions down to near 20-year lows.”
Total US greenhouse emissions were 6,108 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2014. National GHG emissions are going down over the long term, but minor variability year-to-year is to be expected.
By sector, power plants were the largest source of emissions, accounting for 30 per cent of total U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. The transportation sector was the second largest source, at 26 per cent. Industry and manufacturing was the third largest source, at 21 per cent.
As noted in the draft inventory released in Feb., the EPA said, a one per cent increase in total national greenhouse gas emissions between 2013 and 2014 was driven by increased fuel use –in the residential and commercial sectors, largely due to increased demand for heat that winter, and in the transportation sector.