On the State and Local levels (probably National too) Oil and Gas Industry Lobbyists and representative have been spewing out misinformation and misusing terms attempting to confuse and confound elected officials, property owners, media and regulatory agency staff. Two terms which get thrown up and out like a squashed soccer ball are "wet gas" and "dry gas" and "no vapor". In the June 22nd Arlington City Council meeting, Councilman Mel LeBlanc and the XTO gas representative attempted to pull the old tired "it ain't got no vapor in it so vapor recovery systems won't work on it ploy" (see Arlington City Council Aug. 22, 2010 - Evening Session Video - meter reading: 1:30
Old Town Neighborhood Association President Kim Feil cut through the rhetoric with a very simple more accurate explanation of the gas drilling termninology which the high powered lobbyist Ed Ireland has utilized with the Texas Legislature and which Mr. LeBlanc attempted to plant here locally. Mrs. Feil may refer to herself as "drama queen" in her e-mail to the councilman but it is very apparent that she is far from an air-head! She possesses an acute radar for discrepancies between reality and what some with $$$s instead of integrity try to feed us and, and exhibits a focused determination to get past tedious surfaces to the level where it is understandable. She also has a gift for grabbing folks' attention, even that of City Council members who don't completely agree with her, and whose attention might be sort of fading in and out during long, back to back City Council sessions.
Here is how she took it down to the basics to a level that even Mr. LeBlanc should be able to understand it.
No Vapor?
Dry gas cannot be stored unless it is made liquid and kept at the right temp and pressure. Once it is liquid, then condensate vapors can happen. If you don't store it-then U R venting it?....
Now the dry gas is cheaper to store than wet gas because the wet gas has to be separated from corrosive impurities and dehydrated by a more expensive unit. Also wet gas produces more product(with impurities) and requires a bigger, more expensive Vapor Recovery Unit.
But since "we" have dry gas, we do not need the added expense of separation/dehydrating and can use a smaller, less expensive unit to capture the lower volume (but toxic) emissions.
Now if you want to talk quantity, if the owners of gasoline stations were mandated to have vapor recovery nozzles and bear that expense, then why would big gas drilling companies get special treatment? They need to figure the COST to "drill right" and it cannot be at the expense of our health.
I don't know if you stayed for my presentation...drama queen or not...I had a conference call with Dale Henry yesterday after the VOC Storage Stakeholder meeting y and before last night's TCEQ/Public Hearing...
Mr. Henry, who has capped 3-5,000 abandoned wells, said if they cannot afford safeguards, that they have no business drilling...period.
Vapors can be captured per Dan at Hy-Bon in Midland 1800 725 1878 in three ways
1. All storage tanks
2. Condensate tanks
3. When they R venting their casings-whether dry or wet gas...
We currently have the unfortunate RRC threshold of 25 tons per year, which I feel is not giving thought to urban drilling. This threshold can and should change especially since we have so much Barnett Shale activity and need to come into EPA compliance.
Methane carries with it surrogate gases and other produced water toxic emissions. Holding tanks require Vapor Recovery Systems...period.
Have you seen the UTA video? Just watch it and tell me what is in that vapor? Carrizo UTArlington Facility Vent Stack Infrared Emissions from last summer *(embedded at the top of this website)
Why trust stakeholders that have profits at stake (R U one of them?), why not trust the REAL stakeholders that only care about what is priceless...clean air and water.
Kim
I was in on the call to Dale Henry with Kim Feil Thursday afternoon. The Natural Gas produced in the Barnett Shale, although it is sometimes referred to as "Dry Gas" is not actuallly "Dry Gas". It is just "Dryer" than some of the oil field gas which has more oil mixed with the gas. The terms "Wet" and "Dry" do not refer as much to the water content as to the amounts of VOCs. "Wet" gas has a significant Volatile Organic Compound content. The Natural Gas produced in the Barnett Shale contains VOCs in quantities measured in the tons ppb. The really sad thing about this dog and pony deceptive show many in the gas industry keep pulling out and replaying in attempts to avoid relative modest expenditures for proven commonly available technology which transform air pollution and deadly toxins into product which they can (and do) sell for profit is that for less money than Chesapeake invested in the Levitt Pavilion they can 90% of the VOCs on all of their wells in Arlington before they escape and contribute to greenhouse gases and have opportunity to harm the health of Arlington's children.
The Levitt Pavilion is a nice gesture but some of us find the air too unhealthy to allow us to enjoy the concerts. For me, I'd rather have clean air. How about you?
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