Thermal imaging shows methane leaks from wells in Allegheny National Forest

(The Center Square) – Thermal imaging captured last month at two gas wells deep in the Allegheny National Forest show emissions escaping into the atmosphere from the oft-neglected sites, said the environmental group responsible for the footage.

Melissa Ostroff, Earthworks’s Pennsylvania field advocate and a certified thermographer, said she compiled the videos from two well pumps in Forest County – owned by Bull Run Resources and Catalyst Energy, respectively – that she says the state Department of Environmental Protection has not inspected in more than eight years. One of the sites still bears the sign of a company that longer owns it, she said.

And it’s just two of “many,” Ostroff added, where leaks have been detected – by sight, smell and imaging.

“This was something that was really present,” she told The Center Square. “You’d be walking through the forest smelling pine trees and then you’d turn the corner and get a whiff of oil and gas fumes.”

Ostroff and Earthworks said the thermal imaging illustrates the magnitude of the Pennsylvania’s methane emissions problem.

The International Energy Agency describes methane as the second largest contributor to climate change behind carbon. Earthworks said Pennsylvania is the second largest producer of methane gas in the country and emits more than 1 million tons of it each year.

The DEP and the federal government regulate methane emissions from new unconventional wells, but a rule pending at the state level will soon expand the scope to include those built before 2013.

While environmental groups support the DEP’s intentions, many worry about a provision that exempts any source that produces less than 15 barrels of oil per day. Less than 1% of the state’s 71,000-plus conventional wells meet that threshold.

The rest, which environmental groups say contribute up to half of Pennsylvania’s methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, will remain unregulated.

Earthworks and others have urged Gov. Tom Wolf to broaden the scope of the rule to capture this pollution, despite push back from small well operators worried about the cost of compliance.

DEP estimates leak monitoring technology will cost $7,000 per well – an onerous expense for smaller producers. In documents, the agency said the exemption shields small businesses from the economic impact of additional regulations.

Ostroff said those smaller companies often operate multiple wells and fixing the leaks, though not cheap, isn’t unreasonable.

“We feel like it’s the cost of doing business,” she said. “They are just being left on the table, at least as the rule is currently drafted.”

In public comments on the pending rule, the business and industry groups said the state shouldn’t enact any regulation that goes over and above what federal law requires.

While the Trump administration relaxed methane regulations on oil and gas operators last year, Congress recently voted to restore 2016 rules that limited emissions from the sector. A more stringent regulation that includes low-producing wells could be forthcoming from the Biden administration.

The Center Square reached out to both Catalyst Energy and Bull Run Resources for comment on Ostroff’s video, but received no response.

The DEP also did not respond to questions about the footage. The agency, in documents, estimates that its pending rule will reduce methane emissions by more than 75,000 tons per year.

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