Report: Low-Producing Wells Account for Half of Methane Pollution

A peer-reviewed study in Nature Communications provided the first nationwide look at how much methane low-producing wells are emitting. While these wells produce just 6% of U.S. oil and gas, they emit HALF of methane pollution from well sites nationwide. “Eighty percent of US oil and natural gas (O&G) production sites are low production well sites, with average site-level production ≤15 barrels of oil equivalent per day and producing only 6% of the nation’s O&G output in 2019,” said an abstract of the report.   Read full piece here
Here is another article in Reuters new service
Characteristics of US low production oil and gas well sites.
figure 1
a Spatial distribution of active onshore low production well sites (n = 565,000) color-coded by site-level O&G production in barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) per site. The numbered boxes show a few of the major low production well site regions, including those for which site-level CH4 emissions data are available: (1)—Appalachian, (2)—Oklahoma/Kansas/Arkansas, (3)—Colorado/Utah/Wyoming, (4)—Permian Basin, and (5) Barnett Shale. b Distribution of the national number of well sites and O&G production, comparing low production sites with non-low production sites. c Box plots (centerline, median; box limits, upper and lower quartiles; whiskers, 1.5× interquartile range; points, outliers) showing the distribution of site-level O&G production in each of the five O&G production regions with large numbers of low production well sites shown on the map. The average gas-to-oil ratio (GOR, Mcf/barrel) is shown on the top x-axis. These five regions account for three-quarters (76%) and two-thirds (68%) of the total number and O&G production from all low production well sites, respectively. The horizontal lines within each box plot show the median production rate per site. On the right y-axis, the percentage of the total count of low production well sites and total O&G production from all low production well sites are shown in blue and red, respectively. d Cumulative distribution functions of site-level O&G production for all low production well sites (red line) and well sites in each of the regions shown on the map (blue line—Region 1, light green—Region 2, dark green—Region 3, orange—Region 4, purple—Region 5). e Cumulative distribution functions of low production well site age, representing the years in production as of December 31, 2019 and based on the reported first production date. Lines are color-coded as in d. Analysis based on data from Enverus Prism19 for 2019.

Sister Joan Brown Among State Leaders to Share Legislative Success Stories at IPL Webinar

The national Interfaith Power & Light has organized a webinar to examine the success stories from legislative sessions in New Mexico, Illinois, Oregon and the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia region on Wednesday, April 13,   Sister Joan Brown will be talking about outcomes in our  2022 legislative session in New Mexico.
Christina Krost  (Senior Policy Coordinator at Illinois IPL) will be discussing Illinois IPL work with the IL Clean Jobs Coalition to pass the nation-leading Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021
Cherice Bock (Creation Justice Advocate at Oregon IPL) will be talking about working with a statewide coalition called the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunities campaign to pass 100% Clean Energy, as well as a Healthy Homes bill and an Energy Affordability bill in 2021.
Jonathan Lacock- Nisly (Policy Director at IPL-DMV) will be talking about building electrification, getting off methane gas, and the Climate Solutions Now Act that passed in Maryland.
And Sr. Joan Brown (Director at New Mexico IPL) will share about a Low Income Energy Efficiency block grant bill and about stopping a hydrogen hub bill four times during New Mexico’s short 30 day session in January and February.
Here is the link for the  Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 845 0749 6374
Passcode: 960138

New Documentary Features Youth Movement Demanding Right to Stable Climate

Register to host a screening of YOUTH v GOV, a powerful film that follows 21 young Americans suing the world’s most powerful government to protect their constitutional rights to a stable climate.

The national Interfaith Power & Light invites you to screen this award-winning film as part of your celebrations of Faith Climate Action Week and join the community of people of faith preaching, teaching, and acting to heal the climate in 2022!

Register now through April 5 to screen the film for your group for free by streaming during the window of April 11-May 1, either to an in-person or virtual audience.

SAVE THE DATE: April 27, 4:30pm Pacific, IPL will host a webinar with the filmmaker Christi Cooper, and two youth plaintiffs from the film. Check back here for details closer to the date.

 

REGISTER HERE TO HOST A GROUP SCREENING

(Registration available March 21 through April 5)

BORROW A DVD HERE

Barrelmaker Productions has produced a limited number of dvds for houses of worship who do not have the capacity to stream at their event. They are available to borrow for $10 plus shipping.

Download screening guide