Letter to the editor: Don't ignore progress in pollution control
Earlier this month, I spoke at the Penn Township, Westmoreland County, Zoning Hearing Board about emerging information regarding widely available technology upgrades that could be made at gas drilling well pads and compressor stations to significantly reduce air pollution. Olympus Energy is proposing to use intermittent bleed pneumatic controllers at its proposed Aphrodite well pad in Penn Township, while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published its plans to ban those devices at gas wells once their proposed rule to limit methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) pollution from existing oil and gas facilities is finalized.
The EPA has concluded that intermittent bleed pneumatic devices release air pollution at levels far above previous estimations. These devices simply vent the gas industry’s product when pressure builds up in pipelines. Industry can upgrade to electric pneumatic controllers or closed, nonemitting pneumatic devices that don’t produce climate-changing methane, smog-causing VOCs or the known carcinogen benzene, emitted in significant levels during gas drilling.
It’s unfortunate that the gas industry is waiting until it is absolutely required to make widely available technology upgrades that would actually save gas. State and local governments should not ignore current progress in pollution control technologies.
Russell Zerbo
Philadelphia
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