Last proposal for LNG terminal in Maine set aside by federal regulators
Portland Press Herald, September 12, 2016 https://www.pressherald.com/2016/09/12/maines-final-lng-proposal-tossed-by-federal-regulators/
Exporting U.S. natural gas isn’t as “clean” as you think
Washington Post June 9, 2014 https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/06/09/exporting-u-s-natural-gas-isnt-as-clean-as-you-think/
“One of the rallying cries in favor of liquefying and exporting U.S. natural gas has been to help reduce greenhouse gases in other countries, by crowding out coal in Asia and Europe.
Yet tucked into an Energy Department report on LNG exports is a different view: That U.S. exports of LNG to China could end up being worse from a greenhouse gas perspective than if China simply built a new power plant and burned its own coal supplies. The report also says that the climate benefits of exporting LNG to other countries are modest.”
“‘The process of liquefaction, transport, and regasification of LNG is highly emissions-intensive, increasing by 15 percent the total life cycle GHG emissions associated with exported U.S. natural gas,’ James Bradbury, senior associate of the climate and energy program at the World Resources Institute, said in congressional testimony on May 7, 2013. ‘These added upstream emissions also significantly reduce the relative advantage that natural gas would have over higher-emitting fuels, like coal and oil.’”
Energy Department Bombshell: LNG Has No Climate Benefit For Decades, IF EVER*
*If one uses estimates for methane leakage based on actual observations
By Joe Romm on June 4, 2014 https://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/04/3443211/energy-department-lng-no-climate-benefits/
"To make LNG a climate winner, you’d have to assume levels of methane leakage that are a factor of 2 to 3 lower than what recent observations reveal. That is exactly what DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) does in its analysis, 'Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Perspective on Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas from the United States.'”
"For DOE, 1.6 percent leakage is the highest leakage rate they considered!! And 1.4% is what they expect for shale gas.
In fact, leakage rates are almost certainly at least double that! Yes, the EPA has lowered its estimate to about 1.5 percent — based solely on industry-provided numbers. But multiple studies in the last two years based on actual observations have made clear the EPA was simply wrong.
Back in November, fifteen scientists from some of the leading institutions in the world — including Harvard, NOAA and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab — published a seminal observation-based study, 'Anthropogenic emissions of methane in the United States.' The authors took the unusual step of explicitly criticizing the EPA: 'The US EPA recently decreased its CH4 emission factors for fossil fuel extraction and processing by 25–30% (for 1990–2011), but we find that CH4 data from across North America instead indicate the need for a larger adjustment of the opposite sign.'”
The
flying debris pierced the double walls of a 134-foot LNG tank on site, causing
leaks. Five workers were injured, and local responders warned that vapors from
the leaks could trigger a more devastating, second explosion. A county fire
department spokesman said authorities were concerned a second blast could level
a 0.75 mile 'lethal zone' around the plant. Everyone
within a two-mile radius of the site was evacuated...”
July 26, 2013
"The April 2010 explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was the largest offshore oil disaster in U.S. history, killing 11 workers and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the gulf. The Macondo well was owned by a consortium of energy companies, led by BP. Transocean owned the drilling rig that BP was leasing for the venture. Halliburton was contracted by BP to do the cement work on the well.
The plea agreement was the third that the Justice Department has obtained in the criminal investigation of the disaster. Transocean agreed to pay $400 million as part of its criminal plea, and BP, $4 billion. A civil suit against the three companies brought by the Justice Department and others is continuing."
July 16, 2013 Activists: LNG port could open door to fracking Red Bank Hub Despite the contentions of Liberty Natural Gas (LNG) and federal officials from the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard…