Leasing opponents target air quality

Environmental groups seeking to block drilling on US federal land have turned air emissions into a litigation tactic. They are suing the Bureau of Land Management to either stop the BLM from issuing leasing or to void existing leases in various states.

The gist of these lawsuits is to question if BLM properly quantified greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas operations and if BLM examined how GHGs contribute to global warming.

The Western Environmental Law Center and other groups made these claims in a recent lawsuit seeking to void or suspend BLM leases in New Mexico’s San Juan basin. Production has not started yet on those leases.

Oil and gas companies are well aware of air emissions. Industry spent an estimated $42.1 billion during 2000-06 on GHG emission mitigation technologies in the US and Canada, said a study prepared last year by T2 & Associates with support from the University of Texas Center for Energy Economics.

This expenditure represents 45% of the estimated $94.5 billion total invested by US companies and the federal government during this period, said the study from T2 & Associates and CEE.

The American Petroleum Institute said GHG emissions from upstream operations and processing can come from natural gas compressor engines. Methane can be vented from tanks, pneumatic devices, well completions and workovers, and gas dehydration and sweetening. Carbon dioxide can be vented from coalbed methane gas.

API members have assembled various techniques for estimating emissions, including the API Compendium of GHG Emission Estimation Methodologies. The compendium, which is more than 400 pages, outlines how to quantify GHG emissions from operations.

The state of New Mexico has measured and analyzed GHGs from oil and gas operations. The states of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming also have prepared GHG inventories.