Gas System Leaks - From The Well To Your Home

- Our aging, high pressure natural gas distribution network has a leakage problem with big implications for the future of our energy systems.
Gas leaks are becoming recognized as a major problem at every point from gas wells to the combustion appliances in our homes. From extraction to processing, to interstate pipelines and the aging distribution lines under our streets, to meters and pipes in buildings, to the appliances in our homes, highly pressurized methane escapes through hundreds of millions of joints, fittings, valves and seams and rises into our atmosphere. But how significant is this leakage problem and how does this accumulation of methane affect our warming planet and who is accountable for avoiding those leaks?
We’ll start by exploring gas leaks at a high level and what they mean for safety and climate change and how we can quantify the extent of this leakage. We’ll then zero in on one community, Richmond Virginia, that is looking to understand just how bad the gas leak situation is in their city, and how they can hold their local utility accountable for fixing it. We’ll finally explore the financials of gas infrastructure where companies are building new gas lines to prop up old, aging infrastructure in an unsustainable system where bills are coming due. We will address the following questions and more:
- Do gas leaks make natural gas worse for the environment than coal?
- Where are gas leaks most prevalent nationally?
- What data do we have about the extent of those leaks?
- What are the risks of gas leaks to local communities and individuals?
- Who is accountable for tracking and fixing these leaks?
- How is the issue of leaking gas infrastructure tied to energy burdened communities and equity?
- What are communities doing to find gas leaks and hold utilities accountable?
- How are gas utilities incentivized to build new infrastructure to prop up existing and failing systems?
- What are the alternatives to expensively patching this leaky system?
Panelists:
Dr. Nathan Phillips - Professor of Earth and Environment, Boston University.
Dr. Phillips researches land - climate interactions including exchanges of energy, water and greenhouse gases within natural ecosystems and human-dominated environments like buildings and pipelines.
Dr. Mary Finley-Brook University of Richmond.
Dr. Finley-Brook has taught Geography, Environmental Studies, and Sustainability at the University of Richmond since 2006. Finley-Brook was a founding member of the Governor’s first Advisory Council on Environmental Justice and the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative. Her research focuses on justice in energy transition and her co-authored textbook “Climate Crisis, Energy Violence: Mapping Fossil Energy’s Enduring Grasp on our Precarious Future” will be released this year.
Lee Williams - Beyond Methane RVA.
As a retired nurse, Lee has worked as a volunteer in the grassroots nonprofit sector in a variety of roles for environmental, social and food justice organizations. She is a founding member of Beyond Methane RVA and is the acting director of Green New Deal Virginia, and serves as the Sierra Club, Falls of the James Group Advocacy Chair in Richmond.
McKenna Dunbar - Sierra Club.
McKenna spearheads initiatives dedicated to reducing fossil fuel dependence and advancing the electric sector by championing building electrification as Virginia’s Building Electrification Lead. Dunbar's advocacy initiatives prioritizes frontline and rural communities, skillfully navigating the complex interplay between environmental justice, green workforce development, and net-zero building policy initiatives.
Kevin Cianfarini - Electrify RVA and Beyond Methane RVA
Kevin is working to reduce Richmond, Virginia's reliance on methane gas. He has a degree in engineering from Virginia Tech. Now, Kevin is a renewable energy utility professional working on energy systems with a particular fascination in electricity demand response and virtual power plants, both paradigms which help facilitate our transition towards renewable energy.