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Page added on January 17, 2014
Thousands of Gas Leaks Discovered Under Streets
“Researchers from Duke revealed today that they had discovered nearly 5,900 gas leaks under the streets of Washington DC, including 12 that posed a serious risk of explosion. And it’s not just Washington: a gas industry whistleblower who is part of the team showed this was happening in cities all over America.”
New research today says the nation’s capital, notorious for leaking state secrets, has thousands of leaks of another sort: methane from natural gas pipelines.
More than 5,800 leaks from aging pipelines were found under Washington, D.C.’s streets by scientists from Duke University and Boston University, who dispatched a car equipped with measuring instruments across the city last January and February. Their findings appear in this week’s peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The researchers found 19 of the leaks had high concentrations of methane, a potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming as well as smog-forming ozone. So they got out of the car and put probes into manholes. They found 12 could have caused explosions because of their levels — up to 10 times the threshold at which explosions can occur.
In February, they reported the leaks to Washington Gas, the local utility, but upon follow-up testing four months later, found nine of them were still emitting dangerous levels of methane.
“If you dropped a cigarette down a manhole … it could have blown up,” says Robert Jackson, professor of environmental sciences at Duke who led the study. “I was shocked,” he says, adding gas companies usually respond quickly to leaks for fear of negative publicity. Since some are limited in how much they can spend to fix pipes, he says the study may help them obtain money for repairs.
“Washington Gas immediately responds to every report of natural gas odor and repairs leaks 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Eric Grant, vice president of corporate relations, said in a statement, noting he has not yet reviewed the study. “With over 13,000 miles of distribution mains and more than 940,000 service lines in our system, it is not realistic to state that there are no leaks.”
Betty Ann Kane, who chairs the D.C. Public Service Commission, said the study’s findings could mistakenly alarm residents. She said the city does not have 5,000 dangerous gas leaks and has not had an accident or explosion from a pipeline leak in at least 20 years.
She says the commission ordered Washington Gas to do a $28 million, seven-year program to replace the connections between pipes — the company is now midway through it — and accelerate its replacement of cast iron pipes with PVC (polyvinyl chloride.)
Grant said all utilities are challenged by aging infrastructure, adding Maryland and Virginia are among three dozen states that have written laws to allow for its accelerated replacement.
Pipeline leaks are drawing more attention as natural gas production and use booms in the United States. The Duke and Boston researchers say these leaks are the nation’s largest human-caused source of methane, contributing to the $3 billion of natural gas that’s lost or unaccounted for each year.
“Climate-wise, it’s potentially a big deal,” Jackson says. Methane can trap more than 20 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but it dissipates much more quickly.
The researchers mapped gas leaks under the city’s 1,500 road miles via a GPS-equipped car with a high-precision spectrometer. Their laboratory analyses found that the chemical makeup of the vast majority of methane leaked matched that of pipeline gas.
They began similar work in Boston in 2011, and found it had a similar number of leaks per mile as Washington, D.C., but at lower concentrations. They’ve since put instruments atop some of Boston’s buildings, including the Prudential Tower, to measure methane in the atmosphere.
Jackson says they hope to do the same in the nation’s capital although its buildings are shorter. He says both Boston and Washington, D.C., because they’re older, are likely leakier than younger cities.
21 Comments on "Thousands of Gas Leaks Discovered Under Streets"
Arthur on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 1:23 pm
Wait until the long term fracking consequences become clear for everybody to see: the entire north American continent: one big methane leak.
rockman on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 1:47 pm
Arthur – There are few if any documented cases of any methane leak caused by the frac’ng process itself. Methane leaks from NG wells for sure. But that has no bearing on whether the well was frac’d or not. The vast majority of NG produced in the US (and thus any leaks from those wells) comes from wells that weren’t frac’d. There are certain valid concerns about other aspects of frac’ng but the process itself contributes virtually nothing to GHG. And while methane leaks from anywhere in the production/distribution system should be of concern the great majority of GHG produced from methane is by its deliberate consumption by the public.
You don’t need a straw man. There are a number of issues you can rightfully beat frac’ng up with. Methane leaks are not one of them. North
SteveO on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 2:07 pm
It’s disappointing that it has taken them so long to get around to this. The gas company in the town where I grew up in WV replaced the iron and steel pipes with plastic during the early 70s. Prior to that, the cracks in my street would bubble after a rain with leaking gas.
Ghung on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 2:37 pm
“So they got out of the car and put probes into manholes.”
Just for clarity, manholes produce their own methane. They fill up with water and other stuff; make good biogas generators. We had to pump, ventilate and test every one before entering. That said, I spent a lot of time crawling around this infrastructure in the late 80s and early 90s doing mapping and assessments. Much of it was in alarmingly bad shape then. Now?
Makati1 on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 3:00 pm
Not surprising some of these lines are ancient. Many water and sewer lines in Eastern US cities are over 100 years old. Pipelines crisscrossing the country are as old as me, (69) or older. None are properly maintained as the cost would bankrupt most companies. More leaks of all kinds to come.
J-Gav on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 4:19 pm
Progess of infrastructure dilapidation + theft will = big problem quite soon.
rollin on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 5:18 pm
I would say that the public service companies are up against it now with all the deteriorating infrastructure.
The team involved here probably had a much more sensitive detector and of course could analyze components within the gas to tell it’s origin. The results are a real shocker. A dozen big leaks and thousands of small ones. I wonder if the utility can see a difference between use and input into the lines.
A couple of years ago I read an article on the deteriorating oil pipelines. Some are quite old and in bad shape.
All were put in during the great economic rise of the US, now they need to be replaced or repaired during an economic flat-line going into descent time period. Could be a tough go, I wonder how many neighborhoods will burn.
Arthur on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 5:22 pm
rockman, what should I make then from this video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0fAsFQsFAs
…timestamp 1:30 and beyond, other than fracked gas leaking it’s way to the surface?
rockman on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 6:39 pm
Arthur – very old new about Gasland. But first let me be very clear: it is possible for oil/NG drilling activity to cause shallow aquifers to be charged with methane. Many decades ago 7 hands that worked with me at Mobil Oil were burned to death when a rig drilling in an old field blew out. They weren’t looking for such danger because there had never been shallow production in the area. But over the years methane had leaked up thru bad cement jobs and charged the shallow sand.
North of Houston years ago there was an underground blow out: the NG didn’t come up thru the drill rig but went into some shallow sands above 1,000’. In fact the enterprising owner of the Hooks Airport drilled some shallow wells into those charged sands and used that NG to run some of his equipment.
Sh*t does happen…there’s no denying it. But now on to Gasland. First those flames coming out of the faucet…the producer eventually admitted they had hooked a tank of propane to the line. But you might be surprised that I don’t consider that cheating. I’ve seen NG comes out of a water well on numerous occasions. But all Gasland proves is that there can be NG produced from fresh water aquifers. But it doesn’t prove that it always comes from oil field activities. All the cases I’ve seen myself were naturally occurring. In fact about 30 years ago I helped develop a shallow NG field that was trapped in a fresh water aquifer in Fayette County, Texas. And last year I drilled three wells in an area about 2 hours west of Houston that has produced many tens of $millions of NG from shallow fresh water sands. In fact one of my wells found a 20’ thick NG reservoir at 46’ below the ground level. Was there from oil field activity…Mother Earth put it there. Unfortunately the pressure is too low for commercial production. And let me emphasize; that was a 46’ deep sand with methane contamination…it was pure 100% methane.
Now to a big proven liar: besides Gasland have you seen the Utube video of a guy flaming NG out of his garden hose? He sued Ranger Oil for contaminating his water well. He is now in the process of getting his ass fried by the Texas Rail Road Commission, the Texas courts and Ranger Oil. They got witnesses, including the producer of his little fairytale movie, proving that it was not a hose hooked up to his water line but hooked up to a methane vent line that came out of his water well. A vent line that he had been using to remove the naturally occurring methane from his water…a vent line he had installed years before anyone drilled in his area. Ranger Oil is suing him for $1.7 million and the smart money says it will be an easy win given the co-conspirators who are willing to roll over on him. The DA is considering filing perjury charges. Which is how the story was broken; when they questioned some of his cohorts UNDER OATH they decided they didn’t want to risk jail time by lying to protect him. The Ranger suit is very unusual: even when companies win these battles they normally don’t pursue the liars…they just let it quietly go away.
So again watch my words closely: I asked if you had any documented evidence of the frac’ng process itself contamination a fresh water aquifer? I’m not asking for evidence that oil drilling activities can cause such problems…I just gave you some examples. I’m also not asking for examples of NG occurring in fresh water aquifers…I can point out thousands of such examples…all with a natural source. And I’m not asking for proof that frac fluids have been found to contaminate local streams. For several years I’ve been pointing out the potential problem of improperly disposed PRODUCED frac fluids. And I’ve listed links to documented cases where this has happened. Turned out in PA some of the main culprits were local waste treatment plants that were taking in frac fluids (for a fee) and then running them thru their systems which did nothing to clean them and then dumping them into local streams. Turns out while there was a law making it illegal for a private company to do so it was legal for those local govt owned facilities to do it. Eventually both PA and NY passed laws making it illegal.
So please note I’m not saying oil field activities have never nor ever will cause environmental problems. That can’t be denied. But if the public doesn’t understand the source of those potential problems they’ll never be able to address them properly. There could be 100% ban of frac’ng in the US. But that won’t stop any of the methane leaks that are so common in most distribution areas. And that’s the point I keep hammering away about frac’ng: rarely will the frac’ng process itself cause a problem. A bad cement job can cause a problem whether it’s a frac’d well or not. The most devastating US oil patch environmental disaster, Macondo, didn’t happen because of frac’ng. And until that blow out most of the major oil spills in the world had nothing to do with any kind of drilling: they resulted from ship accidents.
Again consider how you heard very few frac nightmare stories until activity picked up in the northeast. We’ve done many tens of thousands of frac jobs in Texas for decades. We’re doing thousands of them in the Eagle Ford Shale every year right now. And both the Rail Road Commission and the Texas courts are very much on the side of the land owners. We have a very skilled cottage industry of law firms that specialized in suing oil companies (but not usually over environmental problems). If a company breaks the rules down here and gets caught they get their hide nailed to the barn door. That’s a proven fact. But it easy to understand where much of the anti-frac’ng sentiment comes from IMHO: folks who don’t want any fossil fuel development. And while I might be somewhat sympathetic to those feelings it doesn’t justify misrepresenting the facts in an effort to move their cause forward. Lying is lying regardless of how one tries to justify it.
Norm on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 7:34 pm
Ker-Boom
DC on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 8:35 pm
rockman, where\when did the producer eventually admit he hooked up a propane line? I really would like to know that this done and he admitted staging it. And by like to know, I would like a direct quote in print or video where the producers of gasland state this. Attributions from US wing-nut sites and other astro-turfers need not apply.
I know you like to hammer on examples of how greedy bottom-feeding amerikans and their ambulance chasing lawyers like try to fleece hard-working, honest environmentally conscious oil corporations. I am not sure if the take away is that you intend is all lawsuits against the oil-govt are invalid because *some*,*might* be suspect. And I use the term suspect lightly because I am pretty sure most people that go up against oil corporations *must* know or at least have some inkling how powerful oil companies are. Especially in the US of coal war and oil. They own the govt, the courts, the police and media. IoW, I am pretty sure the decision to go up against big oil is not one taken lightly. And I am even less inclined to think someone would post a video of flammable water and think, open and shut case-make me out a cheque. Any partly competent lawyer I would think would advise anyone basing a case solely on that-is a idiot.
I dont know it you actually watched Gasland, but what I got from it was, a lot of those folks were extremely reluctant to take on the oil juggernaut for the most part. Almost everyone to a person in that movie expressed similar sentiments. And in most all cases, they didn’t want ‘settlements’, they just wanted the oil companies to stop doing damage and\or in some way compensate them for the loss of safe water and for the sickness they were clearly causing.
Arthur on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 8:41 pm
rockman, thanks for your very elaborate answer.
The sentiment as expressed by fracking laymen like me is shared by many non-experts in the population in Europe as well and so far this has managed to halt fracking developments here, with some exceptions (Poland, Britain). Like everybody else I picked that negative sentiment up from youtube videos like Gasland-1/2 and many other sceptical video posters. But it looks as if Europe will start to frack after all:
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/eu-kommission-will-ziele-fuer-oeko-strom-und-klimaschutz-abschaffen-a-943595.html
The EU commission recently abandoned their very ambitious renewable energy targets and now advocates fracking as well. Probably because they are afraid that Europe could lose economic competition against those with less reservations about fracking. Also, fighting climate change is no longer top priority for the EU any longer.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 17th Jan 2014 10:34 pm
I have been consistently bad-mouthing fracking and making claims that fracking leads to destruction of wilderness areas. I *thought* that I had done enough reading to justify my point of view. But Rockman makes a very good case. Especially, since the oil companies (and Rockman) have been fracking for so long, and just now the horror stories are coming out about fracking — that says something to me. A while back, the governor of California (Jerry Brown) made a public statement that fracking was not harmful — I thought Gov. Brown had been bought off. Now, I have to reconsider. Thanks again, Rockman, for setting the record straight.
action on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 1:48 am
Hard hat and safety glasses… really? I mean really?? I think a respirator would be more appropriate if anything. I guess a wild bird couldfly in and hit him in the head but that’s an everyday risk we all have to live with.
c8 on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 3:55 am
Rockman wrote: “First those flames coming out of the faucet…the producer eventually admitted they had hooked a tank of propane to the line” can you provide a link to a reputable source for this point? I have read about the garden hose hoax in Gasland 2 (I do not know if the producer was aware the homeowner was doing this) but I can find no evidence on the internet from reliable sources that the first movie also involved this- even right wing sites don’t make this assertion. Area residents have reported being able to light faucets for years and it may not have anything to do with fracking- but I would want to see your proof of the first movies faucet scenes being a fraud. It is strange I cannot find the producers admission to this anywhere on the internet- as this is a serious accusation. Thanks
Arthur on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 5:21 am
google gasland fraud
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2011/08/01/gasland-producer-misled-viewers-lighted-tap-water
Regardless if this is true or not, the fact remains that fossil fuel is a finite resource and that for this reason alone we should prepare for a renewable future. If we have a little more time, well all the better.
DC on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 6:24 am
The Heartland Institute…..seriously Arthur? Next time can you try to find a less credible site to link to? ROFL!
The article in question says *misled*, which is nowhere near the same as *admitted* which is what I and now, C* are looking for. rockman claims it was staged, and they knew it, and aditted it, I haven’t seen any evidence for anything like that, and that HI tripe sure hasn’t cleared the matter up any.
Arthur on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 6:50 am
DC, I googled gasland fraud, got a lot of results and picked one. I haven’t the faintest idea what the HI is or does for a living, nor do I care. I haven’t embraced rockman’s conclusions, nor rejected them. Just like you I am interested in more positive proof that Gasland was a deliberate setup.
DC on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 10:34 am
The H.I. is a Koch Bros front, but they do work for just about anyone and everyone in the denialist\astroturf trade. Big Oil, Tobacco, Climate change, GMO foods you name it. You would hard pressed to find a less credible source anywhere. I can apreciate being from Europe that the H.I. might not exactly be a household word.
westexas on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 1:58 pm
Rock,
One small clarification. I think that the oil & gas company you are referring to is Range Resources, not Ranger Oil.
Regarding the presence of methane in the water, there is an article in today’s Star Telegram about conflicting studies:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/17/5494950/new-tests-find-more-methane-in.html?rh=1
(Of course, regardless of source, as the Rock pointed out, there is still the question of migration path. Like the Rock, I tend to think that poor cements jobs may be the most likely culprit, plus long term microseepage along naturally occurring faults and fractures.)
Regarding distribution leaks, we had a leak at the distribution/house line connection point at our old house in the North Dallas area, and a couple of neighbors called 911. The local gas provider, Atmos Energy, showed up, and said that it was not a large enough leak to justify immediate repairs. So, to avoid further 911 calls, I posted the following sign in our front yard:
NATURAL GAS LEAK
Atmos Energy is aware of the natural gas leak, but they do not classify it as an immediate threat. Please do not call 911. We are already on a first name basis with the firemen.
About a week after the sign went up, Atmos repaired the leak.
rockman on Sat, 18th Jan 2014 5:56 pm
DC – I’ll dig for that reference. But as I said I wouldn’t hold that against the producers of Gasland. Why wait around for the well to belch some NG…time is money in show biz just as it is in the oil patch. If it happened in the past it would happen again. Might have been a tad more honest if they had noted it was “dramatic reenactment” of what others have witnessed in the past from that or other faucets in the area. But here’s the problem once again: where in Gasland do they document that any of the methane contamination came from drilling activity? As I pointed out I could film hundreds of water wells flaming NG gas. All that proves is that some fresh water aquifers are contaminated with NG. And in every one of my films I could also present ironclad evidence that the contamination was natural and not induced by man. And like I also said: if anyone is interested I can provide documentation of tens of $millions of NG production from fresh water aquifers. All naturally occurring.
But as I also pointed out I know of manmade NG contamination of some shallow sands. Too bad Gasland didn’t highlight those. Would have been even a more dramatic reenactment showing those hands burning death when that shallow sand charged with NG from offset wells blew out. I think that would have had a greater emotional reaction they were shooting for than just seeing some small flames in the sinks. I’m am available for a modest consulting fee if they want to contact me. LOL. Trust me: I don’t hesitate to point out when the oil patch f*cks up. Life is not zero risk. Never has been…never will be. And yes: I have been an expert witness more than once in efforts to nail an oil company’s hide to the barn door. A consulting fee spends the same regardless of which side of the fence I’m on. LOL.
I’ve pointed our for years the real threat to water supplies in frac’ng ops is the improper/illegal dumping of frac fluids. Many times I’m pointed out we call them “midnight rulers” in Texas and that I helped bust two of them for dumping. My daughter (and the kids of many oil patch hands) drink well water every day so we don’t tolerate it. Ever since the boom started I repeatedly told folks in PA to stop focusing on those red Halliburton pump trucks and keep an eye on those innocuous looking water tankers rolling down the roads late at night. Over time my warnings were proven correct.
Thanks WT: yes…Ranger Resources. Folks can search them and find all the juicy details.