Planet Philadelphia

4-5:00 Today - New Planet Philadelphia: Financial dilemmas and some solutions

4/24/2020

What is the financial picture in light of oil/gas prices
and the transition away from fossil fuels?

Dilemmas and some solutions

Planet Philadelphia 4-5:00 PM Friday 5/1/20
92.9 FM WGGT-LP in Philadelphia and listen anywhere to the live stream at gtownradio.com

Kathy Hippleis a financial analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA.org) and a finance professor for Bard’s MBA program in Sustainability. She has an MBA in Sustainability. She will talk about a recent report from IEEFA about the long-term economic prospects of oil and gas drilling.

Peter Winslow, has worked on a Port Development Plan and on projects for the Department of Defense among others. Peter has talked to us regularly about environmental issues facing Philadelphia city government. He will be discussing the public banking movement, and specifically the movement in the city to establish a public bank for the city. City Council has commissioned a report on this topic.

Planet Philadelphia environmental radio show airs
4-5:00 PM EST 1st and 3rd Friday each month on
WGGT-LP 92.9 FM in Philadelphia or live stream at gtownradio.com.

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Super-Polluting Methane Emissions Twice Federal Estimates in Permian Basin, Study Finds - CCnow Collaborative reporting

4/24/2020

This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. this story was originally published at InsideClimate News.
#CCNow and #ClimateSolutions.

Super-Polluting Methane Emissions Twice Federal Estimates in Permian Basin, Study Finds
The methane is a byproduct of fracking for oil, often burned off at well heads or emitted into the atmosphere instead of being captured for use as fuel.

By Phil McKenna
Follow @mckennapr

Methane emissions from the Permian basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, one of the largest oil-producing regions in the world, are more than two times higher than federal estimates, a new study suggests.

The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, reaffirm the results of a recently released assessment and further call into question the climate benefits of natural gas.

Using hydraulic fracturing, energy companies have increased oil production to unprecedented levels in the Permian basin in recent years.

Methane, or natural gas, has historically been viewed as an unwanted byproduct to be flared, a practice in which methane is burned instead of emitted into the atmosphere, or vented by oil producers in the region. While new natural gas pipelines are being built to bring the gas to market, pipeline capacity and the low price of natural gas has created little incentive to reduce methane emissions.

Daniel Jacob, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering at Harvard University and a co-author of the study, said methane emissions in the Permian are "the largest source ever observed in an oil and gas field."

He added, "There has been a big ramp up in oil production in that region and when you don't care too much about recovering the natural gas, it makes for a large emission."

As a global oil glut threatens to curtail oil production in the region, it remains unclear if methane emissions from the Permian will diminish, or if emissions will continue to climb, as operators scale back monitoring and maintenance operations during the coronavirus pandemic.

"There is going to be a lot less wells being drilled, probably less gas being flared, even wells [that] will [probably] be shut in," said David Lyon, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund and a co-author of the study. "If that is done properly, then I think you will have less emissions. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of operators cut back on their environmental staff and they do less leak inspections and other activities that would reduce emissions. They may have less ability to respond to malfunctions and things that cause emissions."

The current study estimates 3.7 percent of all the methane produced from wells in the Permian basin is emitted, unburned, into the atmosphere. That is more than twice the official EPA estimate for the region.

While the percentage may seem small, methane is a super-pollutant that is approximately 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It is often called a "short-lived climate pollutant" because it lasts only 12 years in the atmosphere when carbon dioxide can last for centuries. Methane's relatively short life in the atmosphere means that any reduction in methane emissions will have a near-term benefit in helping to slow climate change.

Climate scientists estimate that if just3.2 percentof all the gas brought above ground at the well leaks into the atmosphere, rather than being burned to generate electricity, natural gas becomes, as a result, worse for the climate than burning coal.

The gas leaked and vented from the Permian makes nearly the same contribution to global warming as carbon dioxide emissions from all U.S. residences, according to the study. If that same volume of methane were to be used instead for residential purposes, it would meet the gas needs of seven million households in Texas, according to the study.

The study was based on 11 months of data from the European Space Agency's Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) collected during 2018 and 2019. TROPOMI is a space-based spectrometer that uses infrared imaging to detect the average concentration of methane in columns of the atmosphere averaged across approximately 4 mile by 4 mile sections of the Earth's surface. Launched aboard a European Space Agency satellite in 2017, the device has significantly enhanced researchers' ability to quantify methane emissions across regions like the Permian basin.

The study also draws on data from a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite that detects heat from gas flaring and thereby pinpoints the location of oil and gas wells. When the data from the two different satellites are combined, they show that areas with a high number of wells correspond to areas with high methane concentrations.

"That is important because it adds further confirmation that the high methane concentrations observed in the Permian stem from emissions from oil and gas production," said Riley Duren, a research scientist at University of Arizona and an engineering fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was not involved in the new study.

Leaks May Offset Gains by Reduction in Flaring
The findings confirm data released by the Environmental Defense Fund on April 7 as part of its ongoing PermianMAPproject. Drawing on airplane monitoring data, the group concluded that 3.5 percent of methane produced in the Permian was leaking or being intentionally vented into the atmosphere.

The recent report and current study come as EDF and others allege thatchanges in how the EPA estimates methane releasesfrom oil and gas field facilities has decreased the agency's official emissions estimates, as they appear in its recently released 2020 inventory of greenhouse gas emissions.

"EPA makes updates to methods and data sources periodically when new information is available to improve our emissions calculations," EPA spokesperson Enesta Jones said in a written statement.

American Petroleum Institute senior counselor Howard Feldman, who was also asked to comment on the new study, said, "As with any report, we will review the methods that Harvard used to validate the data and their conclusions."

Feldman said that methane emissions are declining.

"America's natural gas and oil companies," he said, "have initiated multiple initiatives across the U.S., like The Environmental Partnership and the Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition, to build upon the progress we've made to reduce emissions in producing basins like the Permian, during a period of significant oil and natural gas production growth."

Feldman added, "These initiatives underscore the industry's commitment to leveraging new technologies and innovative practices that reduce emissions and establish clear pathways for continuous environmental improvement."

Exxon Mobil Corp. announced earlier this month that it is conducting field trials of various methane detection technologies, including satellite and aerial surveillance monitoring ofnearly 1,000 sitesacross the Permian basin, to further reduce methane emissions.

In 2018, Exxon, as part of a coalition of oil and gas producers known as the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, pledged to reduce methane emissions from a 2017 baseline of 0.32 percent to0.25 percent by 2025. The current study's basin-wide estimate of a 3.7 percent rate of emissions suggests that, at least in the Permian, Exxon and other producers are well off of their emission reduction targets.

An April 6reportby the Norwegian energy research firm Rystad Energy noted that flaring in the Permian has decreased from a high of nearly 900 million cubic feet per day in the third quarter of 2019 to approximately 700 million cubic feet per day in the first quarter of 2020. The firm projects that flaring will continue to decline by an additional 40 percent this year as an oil production downturn caused by Covid-19 and the ongoing oil price war continues.

Flaring significantly reduces methane's greenhouse gas impact. When methane is burned, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere instead of methane. Reductions in flaring are typically an indicator that less methane is being wasted and that more of it is being shipped to market via pipelines.

Flaring, however, isn't entirely effective. Flares that aren't operating properly result in incomplete combustion, and the portion of methane that isn't burned by the flare is released into the atmosphere. In other cases, unlit flares allow all the methane that passes through them to vent, unburned, into the air.

Earthworks, an environmental advocacy group, argues that a steady increase in unlit gas flares may offset any benefits from the decreasing volume of flared gas. Field measurements of approximately 100 flares in the Permian basin by the group show that the phenomenon of unlit flares increased from 14 percent of all flares monitored in 2017 to 34 percent in 2020, according to an April 6reportby the group.

Sharon Wilson, a gas imaging specialist for Earthworks, said she anticipates unlit flaring to increase as financial pressure, work restrictions imposed by Covid-19 and the inability of environmental watchdogs to continue field observations, results in decreased maintenance of existing flares.

"At the moment I'm afraid there is all manner of mayhem happening out there," Wilson said.

EDF is now conducting a larger study of unlit wells or wells with incomplete combustion and plans to release its findings in the coming weeks. State regulators in Texas are also considering whether tomandate a reductionor "proration" in the state's oil production, as supply outstrips demand.

EDF is urging the state's Railroad Commission, which regulates oil production, to include mandatory reductions in flaring as part of any requirement to reduce oil production.

"The goal of having flaring as part of proration would be to reduce the volume of gas being flared in the basin," Colin Leyden, a senior manager for regulatory and legislative affairs at EDF said. "Obviously with less flares you'd have less chance of things going wrong."

About the Author
Phil McKennaPhil McKenna is a Boston-based reporter for InsideClimate News. Before joining ICN in 2016, he was a freelance writer covering energy and the environment for publications including The New York Times, Smithsonian, Audubon and WIRED. Uprising, a story he wrote about gas leaks under U.S. cities, won the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award and the 2014 NASW Science in Society Award. Phil has a master's degree in science writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an Environmental Journalism Fellow at Middlebury College.

What to do to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day

4/21/2020

The Planet Philadelphia crew, host Kay Wood and assistant producer/reporter Linda Rosenwein, on making sense of Earth Day during the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://soundcloud.com/planetphiladelphia/earth-day-editorial

Planet Philadelphia environmental radio show airs
4-5:00 PM EST 1st and 3rd Friday each month on
WGGT-LP 92.9 FM in Philadelphia or live stream at gtownradio.com.

www.planetphiladelphia.com | www.gtownradio.com | @planetphila | @gtownradio

Podcast of show aired 4/17/20

4/18/2020

On this podcast of the Planet Philadelphia radio show aired 4/17/20 on 92.9 FM WGGT-LP and gtownradio.com,
https://www.mixcloud.com/PlanetPhiladelphia/aired-41720-how-does-infrastructure-shape-equity-and-well-being-across-the-urban-rural-gradient/

Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities hosted a workshop ‘How does Infrastructure Shape Equity and Well-being Across the Urban-Rural Gradient’September 11th to September 13th, 2019. The workshop was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1929834 and Temple University in partnership with Drexel University, Hunter College, CUNY, Indiana University-Bloomington, Oak Ridge National Labs, The Franklin Institute, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the Sustainable Business Network, and Planet Philadelphia.

The workshop was about the impact of infrastructure on equity and well-being across the urban-rural gradient and used Philadelphia metropolitan region as a case study. One of the goals was to integrate different sets of knowledge and skills from diverse perspectives. Workshop attendees included researchers from the social, engineering, health, data, and environmental sciences, and practitioners, industry leaders, government agencies, educators, and community organizers. Key issues discussed were:

How to create and evaluate models for knowledge co-production
How to meaningfully prioritize equity and wellbeing in sustainability research and planning
How to bring analysis of health into infrastructure research
Possible re-conceptualizations of the urban-rural gradient
The need for comparative research on infrastructure systems

This podcast is a compilation of interviewsconducted throughout the workshop by Kay Wood, the producer and host of the environmental radio show Planet Philadelphia, Linda Rosenwein, Planet Philadelphia assistant producer, and Geography and Urban Studiesgraduate students: Rebecca Croog, Stephen Dickinson, Sarah Heck, Shrobona Karkun, Dirk Kinsey, Matthew Marcus, Naida Elena Montes, Jeronimo Rodriguez, Alisa Shockley, and Melissa Tolosa.

In no particular order, the people in this podcast are:

Melissa R. Gilbert, Workshop Chairperson,Director, Center for Sustainable Communities, Temple University
Kay Wood, Producer and Host of Planet Philadelphia
Leslie S. Richards, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Jerome Shabazz, Executive Director, Overbrook Environmental Education Center
Rachel Valletta, Environmental Scientist, Franklin Institute, Director of theClimate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP)
Hallie Eakin, Professor and Senior Sustainability Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University
Eduardo Brondízio, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Director, Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes (CASEL), Indiana University Bloomington
Brett Fusco, Manager, Office of Long-Range Planning, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Victor Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University
Simi Hoque, Associate Professor of Engineering, Drexel University
Hamil Pearsall, Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University
Bill Solecki, Professor of Geography at Hunter College and Founder Director, Emeritus,CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities
Joe Pierce, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability and Division of Regional and City Planning, University of Oklahoma
Allison Hayes-Conroy, Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Studies Department, Temple University.
Wilson Lara, postdoctoral research fellow in the Geography and Urban Studies Department, Temple University.
Lara Roman,Research Ecologist, Philadelphia Field Station – Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Brett Fusco, Manager, Office of Long-range Planning, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Dirk Kinsey, Geography and Urban Studies(GUS) graduate student, Temple University

The Community Report on the workshop can be downloaded from https://www.cla.temple.edu/center-for-sustainable-communities/.

It is also posted on the following websites:
Center for Sustainable Communities, Temple University
Institute for Sustainable Cites, City University of New York
Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes (CASEL), Indiana University Bloomington
The Consortium for Climate Risks in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), Drexel University

4-5:00 Today on Planet Philadelphia: NSF Conference; Infrastructure, well-being and equity

4/17/2020

Listen to Planet Philadelphia 4-5:00 PM Friday 4/17/20, 92.9 FM WGGT-LP in Philadelphia and live streaming at gtownradio.com.

Break out group at Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities hosted a workshop ‘How does Infrastructure Shape Equity and Well-being Across the Urban-Rural Gradient?’

On Planet Philadelphia today, listen to some of the many diverse people who took part in a three day workshop on how our future can be more equitable, planning our infrastructure for everyone’s well being. Covid-19 has put a spotlight on how unfairly our society is and what sorts of health and well being comes from plans that didn’t adequately include all voices. This diverse group of researchers from the social, engineering, health, data, and environmental sciences, and practitioners, industry leaders, government agencies, educators, and community organizers are trying to figure out how to do better going forward. This Planet Philadelphia show presents a compilation of interviews conducted throughout the workshop talking about some of the ideas raised and lessons learned. Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities hosted a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded workshop titled ‘How does Infrastructure Shape Equity and Well-being Across the Urban-Rural Gradient?’

How does infrastructure shape equity and well-being?

4/10/2020

How does infrastructure
shape equity and well-being?
NSF Conference
Planet Philadelphia 4-5:00 PM Friday4/17/20
92.9 FM WGGT-LPin Philadelphia
and live streaming at gtownradio.com.

Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities, NSF funded workshop. Photo credit: Kay Wood

Our infrastructure, such as roads and sewers, but also green space or social dynamics, can shape our well-being and affect equity.

Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities hosted a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded workshop titled ‘How does Infrastructure Shape Equity and Well-being Across the Urban-Rural Gradient?’in September 2019. It used the Philadelphia metropolitan region as a case study. Workshop attendees included researchers from the social, engineering, health, data, and environmental sciences, and practitioners, industry leaders, government agencies, educators, and community organizers.

Planet Philadelphia’s show on April 17th is a compilation of interviewsconducted throughout the workshop by Kay Wood, the producer and host of Planet Philadelphia, Linda Rosenwein, Planet Philadelphia assistant producer, and Geography and Urban Studiesgraduate students: Rebecca Croog, Stephen Dickinson, Sarah Heck, Shrobona Karkun, Dirk Kinsey, Matthew Marcus, Naida Elena Montes, Jeronimo Rodriguez, Alisa Shockley, and Melissa Tolosa, talking about some of the ideas raised and lessons learned.

Hear The Podcast - Exploring Sci-fi Green Solutions, aired 4/3/20 on 92.9 FM WGGT-LP & gtownradio.com

4/4/2020

In case you missed the broadcast this past Friday (4/3/20) here’s your chance to hear the show. We explored Sci-fi like green solutions and what they might do for our environment here on earth with two super guests: James Tour, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, computer science, and materials science and nanogenineering at Rice University, and Chelsea Heveran, Ph.D., from University of Colorado and Montano State University.

Sorry for broadcast delay!

4/3/2020

Sorry that we had technical difficulties that delayed the broadcast of Planet Philadelphia.
Kay Wood
Host