LEAKS IN BOSTON AREA GAS PIPES EXCEED ESTIMATES. MOST GAS AND/OR OIL PIPELINES LEAK SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF NATURAL GAS AND/OR OIL, ESPECIALLY THE OLDER ONES THAT HAVE EXCEEDED THEIR USEFUL LIFE.
January 22, 2015
Based on testing we have done
over the years in the vicinity of gas and liquid pipelines, we have state with
a high degree of scientific certainty that all the areas we tested leak gas
and/or oil as was evidenced by the
testing equipment concentrations.
The amount of methane
leaking from natural gas pipelines, storage facilities, and other sources in
the Boston area is as much as three times greater than previously estimated — a
loss that contributes to the region’s high energy costs and adds potent
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, according to a new study by scientists at
Harvard University.
The leaks would be enough
to heat as many as 200,000 homes a year and are valued at $90 million a year,
the authors said.
The study — the first of
its kind to quantify methane emissions from natural gas leaks in an urban area
— also suggests that regulators are substantially underestimating the amount of
the nation’s methane emissions. Methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon
dioxide, meaning small amounts of the heat-trapping gas can have a significant
impact on global warming.
“We were surprised to
find that emissions are as high as they seem to be,” said Steven Wofsy, a lead
author of the study and professor of atmospheric chemistry at Harvard’s School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Once we understand where they come from,
we can find ways to reduce them in a cost-effective way.”
The findings come after
the Obama administration this month announced new regulations on the oil and
gas industry that would cut methane emissions by up to 45 percent from 2012
levels by 2025.
The scientists said the
study suggests that state and national regulators should be doing more to curb
methane emissions at the end of the pipelines. The administration’s plan
focuses on reducing leaks that have come mainly from the drilling, production,
and transportation of oil and gas wells related to hydraulic fracturing, which
has sparked a boom in US energy over the past decade.
“The emissions in regions
receiving natural gas need to be considered more seriously,” said Kathryn
McKain, another lead author and graduate student at Harvard.
The study, which will be
published Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
relied on measurements from September 2012 to August 2013 taken by laser
spectrometers at Copley Square, Boston University, Nahant, and the Harvard
Forest in Petersham.
The instruments found
about 300,000 metric tons of natural gas leaks — about 2.7 percent of all
natural gas delivered to the region. State and federal authorities had
previously estimated that 1.1 percent of natural gas was being lost to leaks
from a range of sources in the area, including homes, businesses, and
electricity generation facilities.
If federal estimates are
correct, that would mean the Boston area is contributing to 9 percent of the
nation’s methane from natural gas, the authors said.
“That seems pretty
impossible, and it suggests the entire national estimate is wrong,” McKain
said. “It’s difficult to imagine that our region is contributing that much to
the total number.”
This map shows the geographical distribution of natural gas consumption during the year from September 2012 to August 2013 for the four states included in the study region. The research team used this data, along with air monitoring and analysis, to assess the fraction of delivered natural gas that was emitted to the atmosphere. (Image courtesy of Kathryn McKain, Harvard SEAS.)
She said the findings
suggest regulators should reevaluate their models for quantifying emissions,
conduct similar studies in other urban areas, and consider policies that would
provide incentives to utilities and ratepayers to do more to curb emissions
quickly.
State and city officials
said a law the Legislature passed last summer should accelerate the replacement
of old, leaky pipelines. The region has some of oldest pipelines in the
country.
“This report supports the
city’s ongoing efforts to understand the extent of methane leakages in Boston,”
Austin Blackmon, the city’s environmental chief, said in a statement.
The new law allows
municipalities to request data about gas leaks from the state, allowing cities
and towns to pressure utilities to plug them. Information about the location of
leaks in Boston should be available in March.
“This data should further
our work with the local utilities to coordinate effective infrastructure
repairs, so we can minimize the environmental and public safety risks posed by
gas leaks, as well as avoid undue economic losses,” Blackmon said.
Most leaks are unlikely
to be a threat to public safety, given that they’re typically small, if they do
not have the potential to accumulate underneath people’s homes where they could
create explosive conditions.
Amy Mahler, a spokeswoman
for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the
new law also makes it easier for the utilities to recoup their costs.
“It allows us to make
sure gas companies are going to be able to make repairs sooner,” she said. Besides, we end up paying the repair bill
anyway.
Utility officials said
they understand the urgency to reduce leaks and are working as quickly as they
can.
Since 2010, National Grid
has replaced more than 630 miles of natural gas mains in Massachusetts. Over
the next five years, the company plans to send $2.4 billion on its gas
pipelines.
“We’re accelerating the
amount we’ve replaced every year,” said Jake Navarro, a spokesman for National
Grid.
NStar officials said this
year they plan to replace 30 miles of their 390 miles of cast-iron pipelines at
a cost of $43 million, which means they will have replaced more than two-thirds
of them.
“We have an aggressive
maintenance and inspection program,” said Caroline Pretyman, a spokeswoman for
NStar. However, our concern is that we
do not really trust much of what the utilities are telling us. We had to have some very serious deadly
incidents for the utilities to wake up and be more proactive in terms of
repairs and maintenance.
Steven Hamburg, chief
scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund, called the study “a really
important piece of an emerging picture of methane emissions.”
“We don’t want to waste a
resource; we don’t want to pollute the air; and we don’t want to release
additional greenhouse gases,” he said. “This study makes it clear we need to
better understand the sources of emissions in the urban environment.”