Climate Change and Natural Gas Dynamic Governance
Climate Change and Natural Gas Dynamic Governance
Elizabeth Burleson 0 1
0 Elizabeth Burleson, Climate Change and Natural Gas Dynamic Governance, 63 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 1217 (2013) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/caselrev/vol63/iss4/11
1 Thi s Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Law Review by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons
Climate Change and Natural Gas
Dynamic Governance
Elizabeth Burleson †
“Every year, billions of dollars worth of natural gas are wasted;
burned or flared at oil fields across the world. Such flaring
produces some 400 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.”
—World Bank*
Hydraulic fracturing has been a game changer for the energy field,
bringing to mind the “nothing in excess” carving at Delphi. Whether
heeding ancient oracles or cutting-edge principles of calibration, I argue
that dynamic governance innovation can facilitate climate-energy-water
balancing to address natural gas governance gaps. Methane lost to the
atmosphere not only disrupts the climate at a rate over twenty times
that of carbon dioxide,1 but it also constitutes a loss of revenue. Low
natural gas prices and distance to markets have been the key drivers of
flaring, absent a price on carbon dioxide, methane, and other climate
destabilizers. Methane is the primary component—typically 70 to 90
percent—of natural gas.2 Reducing methane emissions through
governance innovation presents a profitable way of enhancing economic,
social, and environmental synergies.
†
*
Professor Elizabeth Burleson obtained her LL.M. from the London
School of Economics and J.D. from the University of Connecticut School
of Law and teaches energy law at Pace Law School and has served as an
International Panel on Climate Change reviewer.
Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, World Bank, http://web.
worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/EXTGGFR
/0,,menuPK:578075~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:578069,0
0.html (last updated Dec. 13, 2012) (“GGFR supports the efforts of oil
producing countries and companies to increase the use of associated
natural gas and thus reduce flaring and venting, which wastes valuable
resources and damages the environment.”); see also Massachusetts v.
EPA, 549 U.S. 497, 532 (2007) (determining that states have standing
to bring suit against the EPA to force it to regulate greenhouse gas
pollutants).
EPA, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks:
1990–2010, at ES-9 (2012); see also Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies
Calculator, EPA, http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calc
ulator.html (last updated Mar. 13, 2013) (allowing for easy equivalency
calculations between different types of greenhouse gases).
See Background, NaturalGas.org, http://www.naturalgas.org/overview
/background.asp (last visited Mar. 15, 2013).
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................ 1218
Sketching the Contours of the Governance Gap ................... 1221
Introduction
Venting and flaring natural gas flies in the face of efforts to address
climate change.3 Yet, the hydraulic fracturing debate remains
characterized by an underlying sustainability tension among economic, social,
and environmental integrity rather than a coordinated effort to find
dynamic governance synergies. Rising natural gas leakage is a problem
looking for a governance handle. The problem is becoming widespread,
and existing regulation is inconsistent. Natural gas valued at $50 billion
by the World Bank is flared annually, contributing around 400 million
tons of CO2 equivalent to climate change,4 an amount equal to the
Dean Scott, World Bank Sees Increase in Flared Gas Undermining
Global Progress on Emissions, Bloomberg BNA (July 6, 2012),
http://news.bna.com/erln/ERLNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=27270929&
vname=ernotallissues&jd=a0d3k1v5e0&split=0 (“Russia remains the
leading gas flaring nation, accounting for 37.4 bcm of flaring in 2011,
followed by Nigeria (14.6 bcm); Iran (11.4 bcm); Iraq (9.4 bcm); and the
United States (7.1 bcm), according to the data, culled from satellite data
collected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. . . . In 2011, the United States had the largest one-year increase of any
country of 2.5 billion cubic meters from 2010 levels, a 54 percent increase.
That was largely due to increased natural gas drilling in the United States,
much of it from greater use of hydraulic fracturing or fracking.”). A stable
climate is a public good, the absence of which will thwart the provision of
other public goods such as access to fresh water. The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that “[c]hanges in precipitation
patterns and the disappearance of glaciers are (...truncated)