Colorado have attempted to provide buffer zones for drilling.
Michanowicz said increasing the setback rule in Pennsylvania would not have much effect if the law’s exemptions remain intact.
“It’s probably a different set of policy tools if your goal is to protect public health and safety,” he said. That could include placing additional emissions controls on wells built within the 500-foot zone, or forcing companies to perform “alternate site analysis” where they would need to show why placing a well within the 500-foot zone is necessary.
Michael McCawley, clinical associate professor of occupational and environmental health sciences at West Virginia University, said in an email that the study showed the exemption for existing well pads in Act 13 “seems to nullify the effect” of the law. “It appears that Act 13 has so far, since its promulgation in 2012, not significantly changed the rate at which 500-foot setbacks from unconventional natural gas wells are built,�
Appalachian Natural Gas, Coal Produce Most Methane in U.S., Kayrros Says
New measurements released last week by Kayrros quantifying emissions across the Appalachian Basin show the region is the biggest source of methane in the United States.
Kayrros, which uses satellites and other methods to track emissions, said methane from Appalachia exceeds even the country’s most active oil and gas fields in the Permian Basin. But Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky are home to prolific natural gas and coal production. Methane emissions from the resources combine to outweigh those from other extraction states.
Kayrros said recent data show emissions from fossil fuel production in the Appalachian Basin hit 3 million tons (Mt) in 2019 and 2.4 Mt in 2020.
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Key takeaways from today s US-hosted climate change summit
President Biden joined dozens of world leaders today as part of a two-day virtual summit to address the global climate crisis.
Here were some of the notable developments from the summit:
Global call to action: Biden asked
world leaders to take action to combat climate change collectively as he announced an aggressive new goal for greenhouse gas emissions. Biden pointed to actions the US would take, an effort to reassert US leadership and put the US back to the center of the global effort to address the climate crisis after the Trump administration largely disengaged. “The signs are unmistakable, the science is undeniable that the cost of inaction, it just keeps mounting. The United States isn’t waiting. We are resolving to take action, not only our federal government, but our cities and our states all across our country, small businesses, large corporations, American workers in every field,” he said.