Methane, a gas emitted at various points during the processing, expedition, and storage of oil and natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. Its damaging environmental impact is significantly higher than that of carbon dioxide. Conducting this study, therefore, is part of the broad fight against climate change, and it offers insight into a crucial factor of the overall environmental debate.
To set the stage for the research, this Act directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work in concert with heads of other federal agencies like the Secretary of Energy and NASA, NOAA, and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration among others. Their collective mission is to conceive and implement a pilot study that accurately quantifies methane emissions from specified oil and gas infrastructure.
The broad term ‘covered oil and gas infrastructure’ encompasses all the integral machinery and technologies employed across seven oil and gas regions, which are defined in accordance with the July 2022 Drilling Productivity Report of the Energy Information Administration. This does not include distribution infrastructure relating to oil and gas.
The $20 million Act stipulates that the pilot study must devise and execute methods that enable accurate evaluation of methane emissions. It emphasizes a diverse suite of strategies to understand the emission characterizations better. Further, the Act encourages collaboration between federal, state, local bodies, as well as those from academia, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.
Exemplifying commitment to innovation, the Act specifically extols the virtues of modern technologies for methane emissions measurement and research. The goal is not merely to evaluate current emissions but also to winnow out and understand significant discrepancies in the numerous methods of measuring these emissions.
The outcomes of the pilot study must be publicly available and delivered to the appropriate committees of Congress two years from the Act’s enactment. Among the projected deliverables are descriptions of the pilot study’s methodology, the findings related to methane emissions’ quantification and characterization, and details about potential support for a larger initiative known as a methane census.
Additionally, the Act mandates an evaluation of the comparison and reconciliation process between the pilot study or a methane census and the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. The goal here is to amplify our understanding and ameliorate the estimations of methane emissions. The report generated by the pilot study will also point out potential areas for further research and improvement in methane emissions measurement.
The pilot study will strive to ensure that all gathered data adheres to certain standards that would facilitate its public findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. It also encourages consultation with other federal agencies to ensure effective data sharing and uniformity in data format relating to methane emissions.
Ultimately, on its culmination, this Act would mark a significant stride towards a better understanding of one of the primary contributors to global warming. Once quantified and interpreted, data on methane emissions could then be used to underpin future environmental measures, potentially leading to a considerably more sustainable oil and gas industry, and a cleaner, healthier planet.
