EPA urged to target leaking methane

Environmental groups are asking the Obama administration to beef up its climate plan by targeting methane leaks in the web of valves, pipes and pumps that drillers use to produce and deliver natural gas.

While companies have a vested interest in keeping methane bottled up on its way to customers, some gas inevitably seeps out. That's worrisome because methane -- the primary component of natural gas -- is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.

The administration has embraced gas as a cleaner alternative to coal because it produces about half the carbon dioxide when burned to generate electricity.

Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based environmental group, said the United States won't meet its own climate commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 without targeting methane.

The Clean Air Task Force, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter Thursday urging the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate methane, both from natural gas and oil production. Natural gas is sometimes produced alongside crude oil.

Industry groups say new regulations aren't necessary. While natural gas production is at record levels, methane emissions have fallen 11 percent since 1990, according to the EPA.

"The best science tells us that methane 'leaks' are not large enough to erode the environmental benefits of natural gas," said Steve Everley, a spokesman for Energy In Depth, which promotes fossil fuel development.

The EPA estimates about 30 million metric tons of methane were emitted in 2012, 9 percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide accounted for a far greater share -- more than 80 percent.

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