Dallas Ozone Resolution Based on Dubious Anti-Drilling Assumptions
Dallas Ozone Resolution Based on Dubious Anti-Drilling Assumptions
On June 15 the Dallas City Council will consider a resolution that recommends major changes to the yet to be finalized Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) for reducing ozone, specifically the non-compliance region that includes 10 counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unfortunately, the City is being used as a pawn by environmental groups whose primary goal is not to promote clean air, but to encourage more federal control and reject state authority.
The resolution blames DFW’s ozone problems on cement kilns and several coal-fired electric generating units, but it also takes direct aim at natural gas development in the Barnett Shale. The resolution asks the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to “re-evaluate the impact on air quality from the stationary sources associated with gas production.”
The “research” underpinning this resolution was a project of an anti-drilling group called Downwinders at Risk, which wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in charge of regulating Texas air. Downwinders says the resolution will show EPA that it has the “political support to intervene” in North Texas.
The presentation summarizing the resolution lays out a number of objectives, most if not all of which are dubious.
One goal of the resolution is electrification of all natural gas pipeline compressors, but there are good reasons why natural gas-fired turbines are typically used with compressors.
As all North Texans know, we experience frequent electricity outages, particularly during inclement weather in the winter and summer. If all pipeline compressors were electric, pipelines wouldn’t function during an electricity outage, shutting off natural gas to homes and businesses. Winter ice storms often cause outages, meaning the loss of critical heating supplies when families need them the most.
If pipelines shut down, natural gas-fired electric generating units may also shut down, causing blackouts (natural gas is the largest source of Texas power). There are also safety issues, such as pressure buildups when some pipeline compressors stop and others do not.
Ironically, this plan could actually exacerbate the ozone problem in DFW.
TCEQ estimates that forced electric conversions of all area natural gas-related compressors would increase electricity demand by 1,956 megawatts. To put this into perspective, that’s nearly as much power as the largest coal-fired plant in Texas – the Martin Lake unit in Rusk – which has a capacity of 2,379 megawatts (MW).
Without much spare capacity, electric conversions would require new electric generating units (EGUs). Any theoretical decrease in NOx (nitrogen oxides, the key component of ground-level ozone in DFW) from electrification would be more than offset by NOx emissions at new EGUs.
Importantly, stationary compressor engines in the DFW area are already subject to stringent state rules to control emissions. Natural gas-fired engine emissions are limited to 0.50 to 0.70 grams per horsepower-hour.
We know these rules work, too. TCEQ has the most extensive set of air quality data in North Texas, and it has repeatedly determined that oil and gas activity is not a major contributor to local ozone. Cars, trucks, and other mobile sources – a byproduct of our region’s rapid growth – are the largest NOx emitters, accounting for about half of all emissions. Drilling and all other oil and gas production activities combined are projected to account for only 10%.
For years, groups like Downwinders at Risk have advocated for costly new regulations in Texas – including federal control by the U.S. EPA – and they’ve always been rebuffed by state regulators who have shown with science and hard data that drilling is not causing DFW’s ozone problems.
Unwilling to accept facts, these groups are now lobbying the City of Dallas – home to exactly zero Barnett Shale wells – to push their agenda in a different venue. The only question is: Will Dallas allow itself to be used to advance an environmental campaign pushing federal control instead of Texas state authority?
We’ll soon find out.
Ed Ireland, Ph. D.
Executive Director, Barnett Shale Energy Education Council