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Giant Methane Leak Tops List of Worst US Climate Disasters in 2022 [1]
['Aaron Clark']
Date: 2022-12-13
While diplomats in Sharm El-Sheikh were hammering out a historic agreement last month to help developing nations cope with the crippling consequences of a warmer planet, one of the biggest US climate disasters in recent years was unfolding in a rural corner of Pennsylvania.
A leak from a 1 5/8-inch (4.1 centimeter) vent on a natural gas storage well operated by Equitrans Midstream Corp. was discovered on Nov. 6 and lasted for 13 days, allowing more than 1 billion cubic feet to escape. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, has a devastating impact on the climate if released directly into the atmosphere, where it has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in its first two decades.
That single Equitrans release effectively erased emissions gains from about half of the 656,000 electric vehicles sold in the US last year. The incident is one of the biggest blows to the credibility of the US gas industry since the Aliso Canyon leak that began in late 2015 in California and lasted more than 100 days.
The magnitude of the Equitrans release, and the operator’s inability to halt it quickly, intensifies scrutiny on an industry the International Energy Agency has said must do more to curb deliberate and accidental releases if it wants to play an active role in the energy transition.
Leaks are one of the main climate risks facing gas suppliers, and a new generation of multispectral satellites has made it easier to spot major emissions, leading to a greater understanding of just how pervasive they are.
Bloomberg News has used satellite observations since July 2020 to identify about 70 methane releases linked to the energy and waste sectors from Argentina to Turkmenistan, including almost two dozen in the United States. The coverage has triggered government investigations in the US and Bangladesh, but most methane releases worldwide still go unreported.
“The fact that massive releases are persisting even in regions where they're properly quantified speaks to the scope of the challenge,” said Antoine Vagneur-Jones , head of trade and supply chains at research company BloombergNEF.
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[1] Url:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/us-gas-leak-at-equitrans-well-in-pennsylvania-adds-climate-pressure
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