Daily on Energy: Looking to head off regulation, oil & gas industry touts voluntary methane reductions

The American Petroleum Institute released its first progress report Tuesday on a voluntary program it started with 27 oil and gas companies in 2017 called The Environmental Partnership, which it created to limit leaks of methane and reduce emissions of related pollutants called volatile organic compounds.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is more potent than carbon dioxide, although its emissions don’t last as long in the atmosphere. Gas emits half the carbon of coal, making it the cleanest fossil fuel.

The stakes for industry: Environmental groups say methane leaks — which can happen purposely or accidentally during the production and transmission of gas — belie the industry’s attempt to sell gas as a “fuel of the future” rather than one that is phased out over coming decades as part of aggressive climate change plans proposed by Democrats.

“What our industry is really focused on is not pledges from politicians but progress from this industry,” Mike Sommers, API’s CEO, told reporters on a press call Tuesday. “The Environmental Partnership has demonstrated the progress that has occurred.”

Report card: Sommers, along with Matthew Todd, program director of the Environmental Partnership, shared the results of the program’s first ever annual report. The report showed how the partnership, which has grown to 66 members representing more than 80% of the top U.S. natural gas producers, has implemented a methane leak detection and repair program. Not all companies participating in the partnership are API members.

Companies conducted more than 156,000 leak surveys in 2018 across more than 78,000 production sites, finding a “leak rate” of only 0.16%. In the Permian Basin, the most prolific shale gas producing region, methane emissions relative to production have fell nearly 40% from 2011 to 2017, the report said.

“The very low leak rate we found is great performance,” Todd said.

Missing information, with no emissions reduction target: But the partnership does not require companies to disclose how many of those surveys it was forced to conduct because of federal or state regulations. That means it’s unclear how much of that work happened as a result of voluntary actions.

The partnership, notably, also does not require any overarching emission reduction goal for participating companies that are combating methane leaks, and the report did not measure the amount of emissions cuts that have occurred as a result of the program. However, the partnership is based on actions to find and fix methane leaks outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency that have the potential to reduce methane emissions 40%.

Todd defended the group’s approach by arguing that a reduction goal could “inhibit” the participation of smaller companies that don’t have expertise in limiting methane leaks, but benefit from the information-sharing in the program.

“If we required an emissions percentage reduction, it could prevent smaller operators from joining the program,” Todd said.

Industry will only go so far: Groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund that cooperate with industry to invest in technological research to better detect methane leaks say the current voluntary approach is insufficient.

Some individual companies, such as Shell, have urged the EPA to keep Obama-era regulations targeting methane leaks, instead of weakening them as planned. Sommers, though, argued that the industry is self-motivated to limit methane emissions because leaks remove product that can be sold for profit.

“We know the threat of climate change is real, but the solutions also have to be based in reality,” Sommers said. “We know from even most ambitious projections that oil and gas will be a significant part of the energy mix for years into the future.”

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

KAMALA HARRIS AND AOC INTRODUCE ‘LANDMARK ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE’ BILL: Ahead of the presidential debates in Detroit beginning Tuesday, candidate Kamala Harris introduced legislation with Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez that aims to ensure addressing climate change benefits low-income, minority, and indigenous communities.

“Too many communities in America face systemic environmental injustice—that must end,” the California Democrat said Monday on Twitter.

Harris has yet to introduce a comprehensive climate change plan as most of her top-flight competitors have.

But the new legislation hints at the approach she would take, similar to the Green New Deal, which sees climate change as an all-encompassing issue that should be addressed alongside other societal issues such as racial and economic disparities.

Climate change-focused competitors Jay Inslee and Tom Steyer have released similar “environmental justice” plans in recent days.

Harris’ Climate Equity Act does three main things: It would require congressional climate and environmental bills to have an equity score, similar to a Congressional Budget Office Score.

It would require additional review for “climate equity” in federal regulations.

And it would additionally require all major federal climate and environmental investments to consider front-line groups, including low-income communities, indigenous communities, and communities of color.

The bill also creates an office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability to handle new responsibilities created by the bill.

ELIZABETH WARREN VOWS TO CONSIDER CLIMATE CHANGE IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: Elizabeth Warren promised Monday that she would make federal trade policy more transparent and give a bigger role to labor and environmental groups in setting the policy.

The contender for the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination, who already has released a series of climate and energy proposals, said the change was intended to block corporations from setting the terms of trade.

“Our trade negotiations give special access to corporate interests before the agreement is rushed through Congress,” Warren tweeted Monday. “I’ll end this undemocratic, corrupt practice and negotiate and approve trade deals through a transparent process that offers the public a real chance to shape them.”

Warren promised to place more representatives from labor, consumer and environmental groups in the government’s official policy advisory groups as well as creating additional advisory committees.

Pressuring other countries on climate change: She wants to set a list of standards that countries must meet to enter into trade agreements with the U.S., including that partners are committed to fulfilling their emissions reductions pledges under the Paris climate change agreement. Countries that have trade pacts with the U.S. also must eliminate all domestic fossil fuel subsidies, she said.

“For too long, we have entered into trade deals with countries with abysmal records on labor, environmental, and human rights issues,” Warren said.

Warren, like other presidential candidates, vowed to impose a border carbon adjustment to prevent corporations from moving production to parts of the country with weaker emissions standards than what she would look to set in the U.S.

SENATE EPW COMMITTEE APPROVES CLIMATE-FRIENDLY HIGHWAY BILL AFTER TRUMP ENDORSES IT: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved a $287 billion, five-year surface transportation bill Tuesday that includes incentives for building more electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other measures to combat climate change.

President Trump endorsed the bill earlier Tuesday (although unlikely because of the climate provisions), easing its path for passage in the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump campaigned on a promise to spend more on infrastructure, but abandoned negotiations with Democrats.

“Senate is working hard on America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act,” Trump said in a Twitter post. “Will have BIG IMPACT on our highways and roads all across our Nation. Interest strong from Republicans and Democrats. Do I hear the beautiful word, BIPARTISAN? Get it done. I am with you!”

The bill is a compromise between EPW Committee Republican Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming — a longtime critic of the federal EV tax credit — and Tom Carper of Delaware, the panel’s top Democrat.

What the bill does to help with emissions: Carper says the bill includes the first ever “title” to address climate change in a transportation bill, by authorizing a combined $10.8 billion over five years on various measures designed to reduce emissions from transportation, the highest-emitting sector.

The legislation “will help make real the vision of a climate friendly transportation system” and support a “growing market for alternative fuel vehicles,” Carper said at a committee hearing before the vote.

It establishes a competitive grant program to distribute $1 billion over five years for states and localities to build hydrogen, natural gas, and EV fueling and charging infrastructure along U.S. highways.

It provides $3 billion in new funding distributed to states building projects designed to lower highway transportation emissions.

It also authorizes a new $200 million program to help states reduce traffic congestion.

And it spends $4.9 billion on a new climate change “resiliency program” to protect roads and bridges from wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding, establishing an annual competition to give grants supporting resiliency projects nationwide, especially in coastal states vulnerable to sea level rise.

ROB BISHOP WILL RETIRE IN 2020 AS PLANNED: Rob Bishop, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, confirmed Monday he will retire from Congress in 2020 as originally planned.

Bishop confirmed his plans to not seek his ninth term during a meeting with the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards in his home state of Utah.

He had indicated earlier this month that he was reconsidering his earlier pledge to retire because of constituents who asked him to continue serving.

Bishop is a supporter of Trump’s agenda to expand energy development on public lands, and was influential in pushing the president to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments in Utah.

Bishop has served two of his terms as chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees public lands policy and the Interior Department. This is his first two-year term as ranking member.

NYC POWER COMPANY EXPLAINS JULY BLACKOUT: Con Edison, the main provider of power for New York City and surrounding areas, issued a statement on Monday disclosing the results of their investigation into the July 13 blackout which plunged much of Manhattan’s West Side into darkness.

The company reviewed 15 years of power data in NYC and concluded in a statement that the problem stemmed from a “flawed connection between some of the sensors and protective relays at the substation,” since corrected.

Over 73,000 customers were without power during the blackout, which lasted most of the evening on a hot July day.

Con Ed expressed belief on the night of the blackout that the power failure was caused by a transformer fire at 54th Street and West End Avenue. The statement on Monday said the faulty equipment was actually removed from the nearby 62nd Street substation. They said that all faulty equipment was replaced and, “Out of an abundance of caution, we have taken preventive measures by isolating similar relay equipment at other substations. We will analyze and test the equipment before we put it back in service. Our electrical delivery system continues to operate with multiple layers of relay protection.

The Rundown

Wall Street Journal Natural gas is stuck in a vicious cycle

Associated Press Opponent of nation’s public lands is picked to oversee them

E&E News Wheeler plugged record at refinery hit with pollution fines

Reuters Exxon Mobil’s second-quarter results expected to sag, spotlighting need for asset sales

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | July 31

9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 1615 H St. NW. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute hosts its “EnergyInnovates” summit with appearances by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Cory Gardner, and more.

THURSDAY | Aug. 1

11 a.m. ET. The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis holds its first field hearing in Boulder, Colo. focused on “Colorado’s Roadmap for Clean Energy Action: Lessons from State and Local Leaders.”