<\/p>\n
In the vortex of the Four Corners methane hot spot, it\u2019s only fitting the city of Farmington will hold one of only four public hearings across the country for a proposal aimed at updating 30-year-old regulations on methane and natural gas releases from public and tribal lands.<\/p>\n
In January, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel put forward new rules that would reduce the wasteful release of natural gas into the environment from oil and gas operations on Bureau of Land Management and Native American lands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think most people would agree that we should be using our nation\u2019s natural gas to power our economy \u2013 not wasting it by venting and flaring it into the atmosphere,\u201d said Jewell at that time. \u201cWe need to modernize decades-old standards \u2026 so that we can cut down on harmful methane emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Measures would include requiring energy companies to ban intentional releases and burning of waste, routinely inspect and repair leaks, as well as improve and install the most up-to-date technologies and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
BLM officials estimated the tougher regulations would reduce methane emissions \u2013 a gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide \u2013 about 169,000 tons per year, and decrease volatile organic compound releases by 410,000 tons per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe announcement \u2026 is consistent with the Obama Administration\u2019s goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2015,\u201d the Department of Interior said in a Jan. 22 statement.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, the industry immediately pushed back. The Independent Petroleum Association of America\u2019s vice president Dan Naatz said with oil and natural gas prices dropping, new fees and regulations could cripple energy companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the latest in the string of bad policies released by this administration showing a lack of knowledge of how the oil and gas industry truly works,\u201d Naatz told the Natural Gas Intelligence this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cImposing these new regulations will make it more expensive and harder for independent producers to operate, reducing America\u2019s total energy production.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the Department of the Interior reported U.S. oil production is at its highest level in nearly 30 years, and while that provides affordable energy, substantial increases in methane leaks are imminent if tighter regulations are not put in place.<\/p>\n
The debate in the Four Corners takes on special meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s timely that BLM finally acknowledges its responsibility to participate in analyzing and reducing air emissions from the hundreds of oil and gas projects they approve yearly in the San Juan Basin,\u201d said Mike Eisenfeld, energy and climate programs manager for the San Juan Citizens Alliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cCapturing the currently wasted methane from BLM-permitted oil and gas facilities will potentially reduce the 2,500-square-mile methane \u2018hot spot\u2019 in the Four Corners.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2014, satellite images captured a massive \u201chot spot\u201d of methane over the Four Corners, which is the second largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. Several leading research groups followed up with a more expansive study last spring, focusing on methane sources. The results will be announced in Durango at an event not yet scheduled.<\/p>\n
The industry, for its part, has maintained that natural sources, such as outcroppings, as well as the contribution of coal mines, gas refineries and agriculture make it too complicated to blame natural gas operations.<\/p>\n
Still, federal agencies seek to crack down on an industry that has been largely unregulated since natural gas boomed during the last 30 years. The Environmental Protection Agency also is slated to release new methane rules this spring.<\/p>\n