EnergyFactor By ExxonMobil | Pespectives has a new home

Falling … falling … falling

Everyone knows income tax returns are due April 15, which is never anybody’s idea of a good time.

But it wasn’t all bad news last week on Tax Day. The Environmental Protection Agency chose April 15 to release its latest Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The news in that document was very good indeed.

04162015_Graphic_v3Both the American Petroleum Institute and Energy in Depth offer summations of the high points to be found in the 564-page report. Among them:

  • Net methane emissions from natural gas production have fallen 38 percent since 2005, during which time U.S. natural gas production has increased by 26 percent.
  • Methane emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells are down 79 percent since 2005.
  • Methane emissions from U.S. crude oil production have decreased 21 percent since 1990.
  • Total methane emissions from natural gas systems are down 11 percent since 2005.
  • U.S. carbon emissions are near a 20-year low.

Without question, this all adds up to a profound environmental success story.

It should be noted that the statistics mentioned above are the result of private companies driving improvement through relentless innovation and the pursuit of efficiency.

EPA even noted that the decrease in emissions owes much to voluntary efforts on the parts of oil and natural gas producers (see pages ES-14 and 3-58 in the full report).

Put another way, these extraordinary declines in emissions are not the product of government regulations, plans, or impositions, but of the marketplace at work.

All of this goes against a proposal by the Obama administration to regulate methane emissions from industrial activities, particularly oil and natural gas operations.

In other words they’re ignoring the old adage – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Top administration officials should rethink plans to load the oil and gas sector with new regulations that, more often than not, have the effect of stifling investment and innovation.

And what’s best is they don’t have to take our word for it. They can evaluate the EPA’s latest GHG inventory and study closely what it says. It’s eye-opening – and a reason to have optimism about what free markets and innovation can do.

 

 


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