G A S
EXTRACTION
Invisible pollutants come from "natural" gas extraction.
Excess gas is openly burned ("flaring") at petroleum drill sites and refineries.
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Although worse elsewhere, “in the US, flaring intensity ... grew by 11% in 2023 … mostly due to unusually hot weather.”
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(see photo of flaring)
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TRANSPORTATION
The US government has allocated funds to “reduce the risk of methane leakage” via “emissions from high-risk and leak-prone older natural gas distribution pipes.”
Why haven’t gas companies paid to repair their own pipelines with their own money?
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Photo of ruptured pipeline:
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PROCESSING
A “natural” gas (methane) processing plant
© C.Stadler/Bwag; CC-BY-SA-4.0
2024 reports "found much
higher rates of [invisible] leakage
from "natural" gas [methane]
infrastructure than previously known.”
What’s invisible to the naked eye (methane) can be seen using infrared cameras.
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See these two photos:
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Attribution: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2020
“Besides benzene, a carcinogen, [natural gas processing plant] emissions may include toluene, hydrogen sulfide and xylene.”
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Fenceline “communities have for decades shouldered a disproportionate burden of fossil fuel pollution and residents paid dearly with their health.”
UTILIZATION
Gas-fired electrical-power plants (photo below) continue to be built.
“The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved new long-
term supply contracts ... to supply ‘natural’ gas … through May 2030.”
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Could the Environmental Protection Agency prevent pollution at these sites?
As of 2024, the E.P.A. "is delaying planned rules [concerning]
'natural' gas plants that release harmful air pollutants.”
Environmentalists said the "plan allowed too much toxic air pollution to harm
low-income" power plant neighbors.
ABANDONMENT
When wells run out, they often get neglected - leading to additional pollution.
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"The EPA estimates ... ​[abandoned] ... wells leaked ... 263,000 tons of methane" (2019).
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“40,000 unplugged oil and gas wells are … known to release benzene ... as
well as leak other hazardous chemicals like uranium and lead.”
“About 5,000 are likely orphan wells, deemed by the state to no longer have financially viable operators.”
“Companies are responsible for plugging and cleaning up wells, but many of those companies … went bankrupt, no longer exist, or the owner has died.”
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