FORT COLLINS, Colo.—A Colorado State University study of emissions from natural gas transmission pipelines is partially being funded by pipeline companies under an agreement that will keep their individual emissions information secret.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan ( ) reported Monday that six companies and an industry group are paying $150,000 each for the study of gas transmission lines, announced by CSU in June. The Environmental Defense Fund is also contributing $360,000 to the study, one of five research projects it is spearheading to learn more about emissions across the booming gas industry.
Under the collaboration agreement, obtained by the newspaper through a Colorado Open Records Act request, neither the funders nor the university can release specific data of emissions, including methane, for any of the companies.
The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America is funding the study along with CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission, Dominion Transmission, Dow Pipeline Co., Kinder Morgan, TransCanada and Williams Partners.
Even though emissions won’t be linked to which company produced them, the data will be released to the public and the study’s methodology and results will be peer-reviewed, said Mark Brownstein, associate vice president of EDF’s U.S. Climate & Energy Program. The public and regulators will benefit from having actual data on emissions, instead of the estimates based on formulas that are now available, he said.
“Our fundamental concern is that this expansion of natural gas not come at the expense and safety of communities where development is taking place and that we do all that we can to minimize the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas,” Brownstein said.
The study will be led by chemical engineering professor Bryan Wilson, who works at CSU’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory. It will collect data on emissions from gas transmission lines, including compressor stations and underground storage facilities.
“Natural gas can be a reduced CO2 solution if done right; but if there’s excessive leakage, it takes away a lot of the potential benefits,” Wilson said in June.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human activities. It has a shorter life span than carbon dioxide but traps heat more effectively. Scientists say both trigger temperature changes over time.
The EPA estimates that the natural gas industry produces 25 percent of the nation’s methane emissions, with storage and transmission accounting for 30 percent of that.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
