Unintentional leaks of methane are the side show. Intentional releases, required by design, are the problem.
Analysis of industry’s own data, which we know is underreported*, shows that only 6% of the methane released is from unintentional leaks. The rest, 94%, is intentional. Page 6.
Words have power and it’s important to use them correctly. The oil and gas industry understands this better than most which is why they use focus group testing the ideal words to use as weapons to misinform and manipulate the unsuspecting public.
Early in the beginning of the fracking boom in the Barnett Shale in north Texas, which I experienced first hand, neighbors complained about odors that made them feel sick. They believed the odors were coming from the oil and gas production sites in their neighborhoods. That’s when the industry started gaslighting people about their emissions. They said that nothing could be seen coming from their pristine sites and suggested that cleaning products and candles in their homes were the cause of the health impacts people were experiencing.
This is the moment when the fracking boom would have failed if people could see the invisible hydrocarbon gasses like methane and benzene spewing from all the sites around them.
It was around 2008 that I first heard the term “fugitive emissions” used by the oil and gas industry to greenwash their emissions. That’s when the EPA included fugitive emissions in an rule making. Fugitive emissions are defined as unintentional releases of gasses into the atmosphere. The industry incorporated this term in their propaganda because who lets a fugitive loose on purpose? And if a fugitive gets loose you quickly round them up and prevent it from happening again.
I remember an oil and gas man told me to stop worrying about fugitive emissions because, “we have technology that can solve that problem.” I completely fell for it and coauthored the white paper Drill-Right Texas that was intended to be “a reasonable and planned approach to the long- term impacts of oil and gas development.” It was well-intentioned but naive.
I can’t remember when the industry started pushing the term “leaks” as a preferred greenwashing replacement for fugitive emissions. The word leaks implies that the emissions are unintentional. It was only after 2014 when I became a certified optical gas imaging (OGI) thermographer that I started to see for myself that the main source of oil and gas emissions were not leaks but intentional releases. I could also see that the technologies I recommended in Drill-Right were not working. In fact, I rarely see a leak because they are small and get engulfed in the intentional releases that are built into the infrastructure and required “to protect equipment.”
The 6% unintentional leaks are often the result of failures in infrastructure due to poor maintenance. Leaks can be fixed, reduced and avoided with regular maintenance. Ninety four percent of the methane released from oil and gas is no accident, as we explain in this op-ed for Climate and Capital.
“While this is certainly what the oil industry wants you to believe, the facts show that the majority of methane pollution from the U.S. oil and gas industry results from intentional venting and flaring, which are not accidents but part of normal oil field operations.”
Regulatory loopholes allow operators to flare and vent methane in excess of permit limits without violating those permit limits and without penalties.
Releases of methane are required by the laws of physics. And worse, the industry receives a permit to pollute which allows them to release methane and volatile organic compounds by the tons per year. That means, in most cases, the industry is not breaking the law when they have big releases like this blowdown that we documented for over an hour at Saltcreek Midstream in Reeves County.
The industry is required to report “reportable emissions events.” But none of the many blowdown events we have witnessed have ever been reported. Why would they report something that no one can see without OGI technology? However, if they do report, they can simply use the affirmative defense claiming the emissions were unavoidable— a pass to pollute freely. Or they can simply say the emissions fall within the levels of their permits to pollute. Rarely does the regulatory agency challenge that.
The industry spends millions spreading propaganda to confuse the public and our lawmakers.
“You want to know one of the reasons we’re not acting on climate change? $3.6 billion spent on corporate propaganda might have something to do with it.” Grist
People and the media unintentionally help the industry greenwash the real problem with methane emissions from oil and gas when they misuse the term leaks. Stop helping them! Tell all your friends to stop helping them and call the media out when they do it.
* The cited report shows that methane intensity in the U.S. has declined. This is likely due to the known and fraudulent under reporting of emissions by the industry.
