President Obama to Reduce Methane Emissions

On Friday the Whitehouse announced that the President, will continue to fight against climate change using executive fiat. The next step for the White House climate plan, originally introduced in a speech at Georgetown University in June 2013, is an “interagency methane strategy.” Towards this goal, the Whitehouse is directing federal agencies to clamp down on emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, though U.S. methane emissions have fallen 11% since 1990.

data from US EPA

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), methane is more than 20 times as effective as CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. If you recall it is the greenhouse effect that is expected to increase the sensitivity of the climate to carbon dioxide, methane and the other greenhouse gases. Though in its September 2013 report the IPCC eliminated attempts to estimate the “most likely” sensitivity of the climate to the expected manmade doubling of the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere because according to British climate scientist Nic Lewis “the best observational evidence indicates our climate is considerably less sensitive to greenhouse gases than climate scientists had previously thought.” All the climate models had failed to predict that for the last 15 years there has been essentially no net warming. Global Warming has been having what the IPCC calls a hiatus.

Over the last two hundred and fifty years, the concentration of methane in our atmosphere has increased by 151% to 1.8 parts per million. Methane is the primary component in natural gas, methane is emitted to the atmosphere during the production, processing, storage, transmission, and distribution of natural gas and because gas is often found alongside petroleum which is much more valuable, methane is sometimes vented to the atmosphere rather than captured during oil production. Methane is also produced from the decomposition of human and animal waste as well as garbage and is the major component of landfill gas. Methane is also released from the natural biological process of enteric fermentation which is fermentation that takes place in the digestive systems of animals. In particular, ruminant animals that have two stomachs and eat grasses (cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels) produce and release methane from the microbial fermentation that breaks down the grass and hay into soluble products that can be utilized by the animal. Also, when natural gas and other petroleum products are used as a fuel incomplete combustion releases traces of methane.

Methane emissions come from diverse sources and sectors of the economy, unevenly dispersed across the landscape and not well tracked. These uncertainties have resulted in estimates of current and projected methane emissions by simplified models and rules of thumb for the source of methane emissions. Nonetheless, the estimates below are the best available and the Administration has launched a methane mitigation plan.

The President’s Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions targets reductions in methane emissions from landfills, coal mining, and agriculture, and oil and gas systems that include action on four fronts:

1. Landfills: This summer, the EPA will propose regulation to reduce methane from new landfills and begin the process to tighten the methane standards for existing landfills.
2. Coal Mines: In April 2014, the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management will begin the process of developing a program for the capture and disposal of waste mine methane on lands leased by the Federal government. 
3. Agriculture: In June 2014, in partnership with the dairy industry, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the EPA and U.S. Department of Energy will jointly release a “Biogas Roadmap” outlining voluntary strategies to reduce U.S. dairy sector greenhouse gas emissions by 25 % by 2020. Maybe the administration will reduce the U.S. consumption of dairy products, beef, buffalo, sheep and goats and thus reduce the herds of rumens. 
4. Oil and Gas: This spring EPA will assess potential sources of methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry and in the fall of 2014, EPA will determine how best to pursue further methane reductions from these sources. EPA is expected to develop additional regulations if necessary by the end of 2016. Later this year, the Bureau of Land Management will update the rules to reduce venting and flaring from oil and gas production on public lands. In addition the Administration will identify “downstream” methane reduction opportunities. Through the Natural Gas STAR program, EPA will work with the industry to expand voluntary efforts to reduce methane emissions.

One downstream area for reduction of methane is our natural gas distribution systems. In 2012 and 2013 two scientists mapped the gas leaks under Boston and Washington DC using a new, high-precision methane analyzer provided by Picarro installed in a GPS-equipped car. They found that there were approximately 4.3 leaks per mile of street in both cities. Levels of methane in the surface air on some streets exceeded 15 times the normal atmospheric background value.

For some time we have failed to maintain our unseen infrastructure systems as a way to cut costs. We have failed to maintain and upgrade the oil and gas distribution system. Gas distribution companies are well aware of the leaks in the system. The companies calculate the difference between the gas pumped into the distribution system and what is metered at the end user. This is referred to as "lost and unaccounted-for" gas is often a surcharge on customer bills. These leaks are wasteful, dangerous and a significant source of greenhouse gas released into the environment.

Distribution companies try to prioritize finding and fixing leaks likely to be explosion hazards, where gas is collecting and concentrating and ignore the small losses from deteriorating iron pipe and the deteriorating distribution system in our cities. Natural gas distribution leaks and explosions cause an average of 17 fatalities, 68 injuries, and $133 million in property damage each year, according to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. In 2010 a natural gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, CA, just south of San Francisco. There was no warning and eight people were killed, 58 were injured and 38 homes, the entire section of a neighborhood, destroyed. In 2011, a leak from an 83-year-old cast-iron main in Allentown, Pa., caused an explosion that killed five people. And just last month a gas explosion killed eight people in East Harlem.

Detecting and reducing gas leaks are critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality in cities and consumer safety, and ultimately saving future generations of consumers from loss of life, property and wasted money. Right now, repairing our infrastructure will be very expensive, but as the pipes that distribute gas (and the other essential utilities of water, sewer, and electricity) continue to age failure will become more frequent. Infrastructure is the foundation of our economy, connecting businesses, communities, and people, making us a first world country-we need to repair and maintain it.

Prince William County Landfill and Renewable Energy

On Friday, July 8th at the Potomac Watershed Roundtable meeting Thomas Smith, Solid Waste Division Chief of the Prince William County Public Works Department gave a presentation on Utilizing the Landfill Gas for Renewable Energy Production followed by a tour of the Prince William Landfill.

Prince William County residents pay a flat fee ($70) every year on their property taxes so there is no tippage fee at the landfill. This fixed fee that grows with population allows the landfill to have a steady cash flow to maintain their monitoring and remediation programs and plan smooth expansion and improvement programs. Trash generation in general grows with population, but it is surprisingly subject to the economy. The population of Prince William County was 281,287 in 2000 and grew more than 43% to 402,002 in 2010. In 2000 238 thousand tons of trash was disposed at the PW Landfill. The peak tons of trash disposed the PW Landfill was 367 thousand tons in 2007 in 2010 285 thousand tons of trash were disposed at the landfill. To put that in perspective, in 2007 it was estimated that Prince William Residents generated about 6 lbs of trash per day per person; today that number is less than 4 lbs of trash per day per person. Approximately, 32% of the trash is recycled, 10% is recovered as energy, and 58% is buried in the landfill. According to Mr. Smith much of the trash going to the landfill could have been recycled, but recycling and the recycling center at the landfill is a topic for another day.

Prince William Landfill is right off of Dumfries Road in Manassas, VA and has operated at this location since 1972. The oldest section of the landfill contained 57 acres that were closed in 1991 when the state law known as HB 1205 went into effect. That area is currently used for little league fields and have been undergoing retrofit with liners and leachate and landfill gas collection systems to protect the environment. Today Prince William County Landfill is engineered and built as a series of cells. The cells include liners of plastic membranes and watertight geosynthetic clay liner fabric on the bottom along with a leachate collection system. At the end of each day, earth covers the trash deposited in the cell, to keep animals away and improve aesthetics. When a cell if full it is capped to prevent (or at least limit) the rain that percolates through the landfill and covered in soil. Currently, the landfill is capping the Phase I section and opening up a newly lined cell in the Phase II area.

The PW Landfill has 48 groundwater monitoring wells that are observed and/or sampled quarterly to ensure that groundwater is not impacted or any impact is contained and 78 landfill gas extraction wells. Landfill gas is generated during the natural process of bacterial decomposition of organic material contained in the trash buried in the landfill. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide. Landfill gas also contains varying amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, sulfur, and other contaminants. The gases produced within the landfill are either collected and flared off or used to produce heat and electricity. The landfill gas cannot be allowed to build up in the landfill because of the explosive potential. PW Landfill has operated for almost 40 years and has more than 7 million tons of trash buried at the landfill. That trash currently generates 2,700 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas up from 1,600 scf/m in 1999.

Landfill gas can be used as a source of energy to create electricity or heat. It is classified as a medium-Btu gas with a heating value of 350 to 600 Btu per cubic foot, approximately half that of natural gas, and can be used in place of propane and natural gas in some application. It is a reliable source of energy because it is generated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Landfill gas is a renewable energy source. Landfill gas that is used to produce energy does not have to be flared and wasted to prevent explosive gas build up. Flaring of landfill gas at PW landfill is done in a candle flare an open air flame that you have probably seen at night. In 1998 the County formed a partnership with NEO Prince William to install a landfill gas collection system and a 1.9 MW energy recover facility which is a two engine turbine that burns the gas to make electricity that is sold to NOVEC, the local electric cooperative. The 1.9 MW energy recovery system was utilizing less than 25% of the currently available landfill gas for energy recovery.

NEO was acquired by Fortistar Methane Group. Fortistar has since obtained the VDEQ permits for four additional engine turbines. Negotiations with NOVEC were more difficult because Virginia has no renewable energy requirements, but 3 MW of additional engines will go on line this year for a total constant energy production of 5 MW. This will produce $40,000 annual revenue to the Solid Waste Fund and $20,000 in personal property tax revenue in the first year. Even after the new engines go online this year there will still be 200 scf/m excess landfill gas available. A new gas pipeline has been installed to provide landfill gas to heat the landfill’s Fleet Maintenance Building and extended to provide fuel to the County animal shelter cremation incinerator to replace propane. The payback for the pipeline installation is estimated to be 8-10 years. Propane use will be reduced 56% and the savings to the general fund will be $25,000-$35,000 annually.

As the landfill continues to operate, adding closed cells and opening new cells, more landfill gas will be produced for generations. Prince William County views the landfill as an under utilized resource and is studying options for creating a Prince William Renewable Energy Park. The PW Landfill has applied to EPA for technical assistance in performing feasibility studies for the potential options.