The debate over flaring unconventional oil and gas in shale basins across the United States has suddenly heated up immensely (excuse the badย pun).ย
On March 27, theย Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economy (CERES) penned a letter calling for an end to the practice, writing,
We are a group of 37 investors, representing $500 billion in total assets, who areconcerned about the financial risks associated with the flaring of natural gas that has accompanied fast-proliferating oil production from shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere in the U.S.
We are concerned that excessive flaring, because of its impact on air quality and climate change, poses significant risks for the companies involved, and for the industry at large,ultimately threatening the industryโs license toย operate.
As you know, shale oil production, made possible by hydraulic fracturing technology,โฆis poised to become the worldโs largest oil producer in the next five years, with nearly all of this projected growth coming from shale oil.ย โฆ
On a lifecycle basis, emissions from oil produced with high flaring rates may be comparable to those from Canadaโs vast oil sands region.
The letter ended by calling for the building up of proper infrastructure, such as pipelines and refineries, in order to push for an eliminiation of the dirty practice. CERES concluded the letter with a firm request, stating, โWe therefore are writing to request information about the amount your company is currently flaring, as well as details about your plans to reduce flaring at existing wells and prevent it at futureย wells.โ
Letter signarories included As You Sow,ย Presbyterian Church (USA),ย Turner Investments, andย Praxis Mutual Funds, to nameย several.
U.S. Flaring inย Context
DeSmogBlog, in the heat of the ongoing debate over TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, noted in late Januaryย that the derailing of the northern portion of the pipeline could mean more gas flaringย in the Bakken Shaleย basin, located in North Dakota, due to lack of pipeline infrastructure needed to bring the gas toย market.
The original Keystone XL game plan included a key slice of the pie located in the northern U.S., known by the oil and gas industry as the TransCanada Bakken Marketlinkย project. This project would move the oil and gas obtained via the hydraulic fracturing (โfrackingโ) process in the Bakken, as well as tar sands crude from Alberta, southward toward Cushing, OK, eventually making its way to Port Arthur, TX.
The southern half of that pie is known as the Cushing Marketlink project, located in Cushing, OK, a city President Obama recently sojourned to on the campaign trail.
President Obama has delayed a decision on the fate of the northern half of the pipeline until after the November 2012 elections. And that means the oil and gas obtained via fracking in the Bakken Shale will continue to be flared at surrealย rates.
As we explained in January, โโฆif the Marketlink Project goes down in flamesโฆthat means, ironically, more flames in the form of gasย flaring.โ
In an overlookedย September 2011 investigation, The New York Timesย revealed that (emphasis mine)ย the oil and gas industry flares roughly 30-percent of the gas fracked from the Bakken Shale.ย
The Times’ Cliffordย Kraussย wrote,
Every day, more than 100 million cubic feet of natural gas is flared this wayย โ enough energy to heat half a million homes for aย day.
Theย flared gas also spews at least two million tons of carbon dioxideย into the atmosphere every year, as much as 384,000 cars or a medium-size coal-fired power plant would emit, alarming someย environmentalists.
Why flare? The industry answer is quiteย blunt.ย
โIโll tell you why people flare: Itโs cheap,โย said Troy Andersonย toย The Times, lead operator of a North Dakota gas-processing plant owned by Whiting Petroleum inย The Timesย article.ย
โPipelines are expensive: You have to maintain them. You need permits to build them. They are aย pain.โ
More Context: Devastation of Flaring inย Nigeria
We’ve seen this play out before and history shows that flaring can cause devastation on a massiveย scale.
Look to the Niger Delta for Exhibit A. Friends of the Earth UK, in an October 2004 press release, laid it out:
The flares also contain widely-recognised toxins, such as benzene, which pollute the air. Local people complain of respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis. According to the US government, the flares contribute to acid rain and villagers complain of the rain corroding their buildings. The particles from the flares fill the air, covering everything with a fine layer ofย soot.
Local people also complain about the roaring noise and the intense heat from the flares. They live and work alongside the flares with noย protection
The Independentย of London, in June 2010, noted that Nigeria’s gas flares were visible from outer space. In that article, Christopher Cragg, now Senior Vice President of Operations of Oil States International, Inc. and Director of Powell Industries, Inc., stated the following ofย flaring:ย
It is one of the largest single pointless emissions of greenhouse gas on the planet, with obvious implications for climate change that will not only affect Nigeria, but also the rest of theย world.
An important documentary on flaring in the Niger Delta, titled, โPoison Fire,โ can be seenย below.
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