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Petroleum exploration and production operations are often in areas where air quality is a significant concern. Potential pollutants include semi-volatile organic compounds, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, fine particles, and air toxics.

The overall contribution of petroleum exploration and production operations to air pollution is small compared to other sources, however, its impact must be considered. While the majority of the nation's oil and gas operations occur in relatively remote areas, there are concentrated activities in or near major population centers such as Houston, Texas, and Bakersfield, California. Today, concern about air emissions from exploration and production activities is focused on five or six areas in the United States where operations are ongoing, notably the Gulf Coast, North Slope of Alaska, San Joaquin Valley of California, Rocky Mountain states, and California Coast.

Difficulties faced today by regulators and the energy industry largely stem from uncertainties about the sources and magnitude of various types of air emissions. It is difficult with today's air models to identify where certain pollutants originate and whether imposing more stringent controls on specific sources will produce the desired results. This could lead to costly and unnecessary over-regulation of some easily identified emission sources while inappropriately minimizing the impact of less easily identified sources.

The Energy Department's focus in addressing air quality issues from oil and gas operations is primarily to improve the current collection of data and the use of that data in more accurate air circulation and transport models.

The Clean Airship Air Monitoring Project

MORE INFO Read the special article on air quality research in DOE's Eye on the Environment, Summer 2001 06.05.00 Techline: Research Airship to Collect Air Pollution Data Over Central California Read the special article in DOE's Eye on the Environment, Winter 2001

The Clean Airship #1 is a remotely piloted, 30-foot long blimp that was used in a DOE-cosponsored study of the air quality over California's Central Valley where numerous oil and gas operations are located. The airship can collect air samples up to 1,000-foot altitudes under difficult conditions, such as fog, that would prevent a traditional fixed wing aircraft from flying. DOE helped fund the navigation and data collection apparatus. This data was needed to more accurately model the impact of oil and gas emissions during stagnant weather conditions that frequently occur in the region. Once the data was collected, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) hired DOE’s contractor to analyze the results. The resulting report to CARB showed that, in stagnant weather episodes, the emissions from oil and gas operations penetrate the stable inversion layer where they can be carried downwind and subsequently washed out. This result showed that CARB’s prior assumption that the emissions stay in the ground level air layer where they contribute to air pollution and smog was wrong. CARB is currently considering these results as part of a review of its models.

Other Modeling and Analysis Efforts

National Laboratories, chiefly Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are working in the Office of Fossil Energy's program are identifying and estimating the magnitude of uncertainties in photochemical air quality simulation models. States use these models to prepare State Implementation Plans describing how an out-of-compliance area can be brought into compliance with ozone and other air quality standards.

Other studies are underway to measure how microscopically small particles called PM2.5 (for particulate matter with diameters of 2.5 microns or smaller), one of the emissions released by oil and gas operations, are transported through the atmosphere and in some cases, build up inside homes and offices. Because people spend 80 to 90 percent of their time indoors, it is important to understand the correlation between measurements of outdoor PM and the actual exposures experienced by people indoors. This exposure is generally less than measured outdoor levels because the particles are removed from indoor air as they stick to surfaces or clump together and drop out of the air. This understanding is important for the development of cost-effective air emissions regulations that affect oil and gas operations as well as other industries.

DOE also conducts studies of chemical transformation processes that occur in the atmosphere that create some of these small particles from other air emissions, known as secondary organic aerosols. While some of these particles are created as a result of emissions from oil and gas operations and other human activities, many also result from natural emissions, such as organic compounds given off by trees. In modeling the contribution to atmospheric PM from oil and gas activities, it is important to understand and include emissions as well.

Visibility is an issue that affects many regions of the country but can be of particular concern in national parks and other pristine areas. The Energy Department is working in remote wilderness areas of Wyoming to correlate visibility with measurements of specific air pollutant levels. This information will be useful in identifying pollutant reductions necessary to keep the skies clear over many of our most treasured natural resources.

In the San Juan Basin of Colorado and New Mexico, Argonne National Laboratory is working with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and interested parties to develop improved air quality monitoring protocols for coalbed methane and associated production activities. The objective of these efforts is to collaboratively pursue innovative solutions that allow energy development while protecting air quality and visibility in the region.

Air monitoring is also underway in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Energy Department's involvement in this effort has allowed an existing Bureau of Land Management study of pre-development air quality to expand the number of sites being used to gather air quality data. This will establish the baseline against which Federal and state agencies can measure the impact of oil development activities on airborne contaminants in Northwest Alaska.
 
The goal of these air quality efforts is to ensure that future laws and regulations are based on the highest quality, most scientifically sound data and modeling possible. Only by understanding the likely air quality impact of various control strategies will future regulations be implemented in the most cost-effective manner. With better data, the oil and gas industry and regulators can make more informed decisions to reduce air emissions while continuing to produce the oil and gas necessary to help fuel future economic growth.