Report cites climate costs of gas project

Report cites climate costs of gas project

• Dennis Webb

A report released Thursday by an anti-fossil-fuel group says the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project would be vastly greater than those of Oregon's remaining coal-fired power plant, when considering sources including methane leaks where the gas is expected to be produced in states like Colorado.

The report by the group Oil Change International says the proposed project in Coos Bay, Oregon, would account for more than 36.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. The group says that's equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly 8 million cars, and is more than 15 times the 2016 emissions of Oregon's Boardman coal plant, which is scheduled to close in 2020 due to climate and air pollution concerns.

"The facts show that Jordan Cove will increase global emissions as it will increase the flow of fracked gas to world markets and undermine the clean energy transition," Lorne Stockman, senior research analyst with Oil Change International and the lead report author, said in a news release. "The emissions associated with this project would dig a substantial hole, undermining Oregon's efforts to lead on climate action."

Jordan Cove project supporters in western Colorado hope it can provide an outlet to Asian markets for gas produced locally in the Piceance Basin. David Ludlam, executive director of the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said the new study is predictably self-serving, funded by groups with the goal of preventing the globalization of liquefied natural gas as a commodity, and it fails to acknowledge the numerous benefits a project like Jordan Cove offers.

"When you're looking at the value of projects like Jordan Cove, to look at it myopically and in such a narrow way is a disservice to the country, to the world," he said.

He said the project would help use U.S. energy abundance to address energy scarcity with key allies on the Pacific Rim. He added that countries such as China are switching to gas not just for power generation but for a manufacturing feedstock for things such as fertilizer, medicine and consumer products.

"The goal (of the report) is to stop the project and not inform the public debate in a meaningful way," Ludlam said.

The report's release comes a month after U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., came out against Jordan Cove. In a column in the Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, he pointed to some of the same concerns also being highlighted in the new report.

"Since 2012 we have learned more about natural gas escaping from fracking fluids and gas pipelines, which by many estimates makes it at least as carbon-polluting as coal. When that LNG is burned in Asia, it would generate carbon pollution equal to an additional 3 million gas-powered cars on the road," Merkley wrote.

"Additionally, global energy markets have evolved dramatically. Non-carbon alternatives such as solar and wind are now highly competitive. With a renewable energy future within reach, it makes little sense to help Asia leap from coal to natural gas, locking in carbon pollution for decades."

Merkley's column was followed by a response in the same paper by Derrik DeGroot, Tim Freeman, and John Sweet, county commissioners for Klamath, Douglas and Coos counties, respectively, in southern Oregon. They lamented his opposition to what they called "a unique opportunity for rural Oregon."

They wrote that Jordan Cove "will provide U.S. allies in Asia with a cleaner form of energy while creating thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs in southern Oregon and paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes to rural counties every year it operates."

The three added, "Natural gas is a much cleaner alternative to coal without the risks associated with nuclear power. This is why countries such as Japan and South Korea want to purchase North American natural gas and Jordan Cove already has half of its output committed to Japanese buyers."

The Oil Change International report challenges the assumption that gas supplied by Jordan Cove would supplant coal power. It says new gas capacity would only serve to displace new wind and solar that is now cheaper than coal in many areas, and it questions the need for gas as a backup to intermittent renewable energy, predicting that power storage and demand-response will be ready to step in once wind and solar power generation reach levels big enough to require backup.

The report says "that even a conservative estimate of methane leakage undermines claims that the gas supplied to global markets via" Jordan Cove would lead to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Methane is considered far more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term — 86 times as harmful over 20 years, according to the measure used in the report. That fact has led to an increasing amount of focus in recent years on methane leaks associated with oil and gas development. Colorado in 2014 became the first state in the nation to pass rules specifically aimed at reducing methane emissions from oil and gas development.

The Oil Change International report estimates that about 11 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year associated with Jordan Cove would derive from the gas production phase. The only larger greenhouse-gas impact from the project would be the 20.1 million metric tons per year resulting from the eventual burning of the gas by end users, the report estimates.

The report says it includes a downward revision of estimated methane leakage to account for Colorado's methane rule.

Ludlam said the industry is continuing to reduce emissions, and he noted that Utah recently took regulatory steps that will reduce those emissions, the way Colorado has. Utah state officials say those new rules target volatile organic compound emissions from oil and gas development, but in doing so will cut methane leaks as well.

Ludlam said he'd welcome any chance to have Merkley visit western Colorado and show how him how gas drilling and production here "might be different from some of the notions some people have."

Ludlam said it's also important to note that U.S. natural gas could provide desperately needed affordable energy in parts of the world that have widespread poverty, are seeking to develop infrastructure and their economies, and in some cases rely heavily on energy sources such as dung and firewood. Access to natural gas also would mean a reduction in health-threatening air pollutants in many areas, he added.

"Those are the kinds of things that aren't being discussed in these kind of debates," he said.

Ted Zukoski, an attorney for the conservation group Earthjustice, agreed that affordable electricity can improve quality of life.

"But there are plenty of ways to generate electricity without burning polluting fuels like natural gas," he said. "Many renewable sources are now cheaper than coal and increasingly competitive with gas. Further, Asian countries are already feeling the hurt from climate change; the poorest will be hurt the worst. Gas is only cheap if you ignore the costs to our grandchildren, to our property, to our public health, and to the planet."

He said the new report's estimated annual carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions associated with Jordan Cove would be about four times the carbon dioxide emissions of the coal-fired power plant in Craig, one of Colorado's largest carbon dioxide emission sources.

Michael Hinrichs, spokesman for the Jordan Cove project, questioned the new report's accuracy and said it "supports a pre-determined stance."

He noted that the project has obtained approval for an air permit from the state and said its construction would mean tax and job benefits to the state and local counties.

"The project is putting Oregon on the path to supplying a cleaner energy future for our customers. Natural gas is cleaner burning, has fewer pollutants, is less expensive and more efficient than other fuels that are capable of meeting around-the-clock energy demand," he said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission previously rejected the project and an associated pipeline project but Jordan Cove has refiled with that agency after working to address the commission's concerns.