Apparently, it isn’t just the Arctic that has a ticking methane bomb, there’s actually explosive levels in Washington D.C. recorded. From Duke University and the “there must be a joke in here somewhere department”:
5,900 natural gas leaks discovered under Washington, D.C.
A dozen locations had concentrations high enough to trigger explosion
DURHAM, NC – More than 5,893 leaks from aging natural gas pipelines have been found under the streets of Washington, D.C. by a research team from Duke University and Boston University.
A dozen of the leaks could have posed explosion risks, the researchers said. Some manholes had methane concentrations as high as 500,000 parts per million of natural gas – about 10 times greater than the threshold at which explosions can occur.
Four months after phoning in the leaks to city authorities, the research team returned and found that nine were still emitting dangerous levels of methane. “Finding the leaks a second time, four months after we first reported them, was really surprising,” said Robert B. Jackson, a professor of environmental sciences at Duke who led the study.
The researchers published their findings this week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology.
“Repairing these leaks will improve air quality, increase consumer health and safety, and save money,” Jackson said. “Pipeline safety has been improving over the last two decades. Now is the time to make it even better.”
Nationally, natural gas pipeline failures cause an average of 17 fatalities, 68 injuries, and $133 million in property damage annually, according to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
In addition to the explosion hazard, natural gas leaks also pose another threat: Methane, the primary ingredient of natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas that also can catalyze ozone formation. Pipeline leaks are the largest human-caused source of methane in the United States and contribute to $3 billion of lost and unaccounted for natural gas each year.
Jackson’s team collaborated with researchers from Boston University and Gas Safety, Inc., on the new study. The team mapped gas leaks under all 1,500 road miles within Washington using a high-precision Picarro G2301 Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer installed in a GPS-equipped car. Laboratory analyses then confirmed that the isotopic chemical signatures of the methane and ethane found in the survey closely matched that of pipeline gas.
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  IMAGE: This is a satellite image of the District of Colombia with bar charts showing where natural gas leaks were located under city streets and in what concentration methane was identified….Click here for more information. |
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The average methane concentration observed in the leaks was about 2.5 times higher than in background air samples collected in the city. Methane levels in some leaks were as high as 89 parts per million, about 45 times higher than normal background levels.
The team also measured how much methane was coming from four individual street-level leaks. “Methane emissions from these four leaks ranged from 9,200 to 38,200 liters per day for each leak — that’s comparable to the amount of natural gas used by between 2 and 7 homes,” said Duke Ph.D. student Adrian Down.
Last year, the team mapped more than 3,300 natural-gas pipeline leaks beneath 785 road miles in the city of Boston. “The average density of leaks we mapped in the two cities is comparable, but the average methane concentrations are higher in Washington,” said Nathan G. Phillips, a professor at Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment.
Like Washington and Boston, many U.S. cities have aging pipeline infrastructure that may be prone to leaks. The researchers recommend coordinated gas-leak mapping campaigns in cities where the infrastructure is deemed to be at risk.
The new study comes at a time when the nation’s aging pipeline infrastructure is generating increased legislative attention. Last November, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced two new bills to speed up the replacement of natural gas pipelines in states with older infrastructures by offering new federal programs and incentives to help defray the costs associated with the repairs.
“We need to put the right financial incentives in place,” said Jackson. “Companies and public utility commissions need help to fix leaks and replace old cast iron pipes more quickly.”
Co-authoring the new study with Jackson, Down and Phillips were Charles W. Cook and Kaiguang Zhao, of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment; Robert C. Ackley of Gas Safety, Inc.; and Desiree L. Plata of Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering.
Funding came from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and the Duke Center on Global Change.
CITATION: “Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks Across Washington, D.C.,” Robert B. Jackson, Adrian Down, Nathan G. Phillips, Robert C. Ackley, Charles W. Cook, Desiree L. Plata and Kaiguang Zhao. Environmental Science & Technology, January 16, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es404474x.
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D.J. Hawkins says:
January 16, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Mark Bofill says:
January 16, 2014 at 3:13 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I am surprised something hasn’t blown before this. Think lit cigarettes tossed down street drains….
Sherp says: @ur momisugly January 16, 2014 at 4:30 pm
15 years ago the utility people replaced a huge iron pipe on 21st street NW, The Iron pipe was stamped 1890. One of the utility workers said “Pipe does not owe us a nickel”. The water pipes are running with lead.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Some of the water pipes are wood. … the 6-inch-wide city pipe that still delivers drinking water to a block on Nixon Street here uses an even more primitive technology: wood…
Makes you wonder what politicians are spending our money on. Shades of the poor condition of the levees in New Orleans. Could New Orleans have been saved for $809,659?
I use to work there. Believe me, there are more Gas Leaks than one can dream of.
If only we could divert billions from CO2 reduction action, to strengthening infrastructure and supply/distribution lines. Money would then address real urgent problems with real tangible benefits to society. Alas… GK
DC was built on a swamp. This is probably naturally occurring gas that needs to be captured.
@Alvin- by putting rump pumps on politicians?
Is that why Wash DC stinks?
I know first hand what a high pressure (200 to 1000 psi) gas transmission line sounds like when it lets go at 1 in the morning – and I was 3 miles away from where it happened! It sounds just like a BUFF at full throttle, (but with it’s nose stuck in the ground). http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/00375/b-52_682x400_375977a.jpg
A BS-detector analysis would be nice to see as well. Efficient as well because GPS wouldn’t be necessary. The tallest bars on the chart would be at 1600 Pennsylvania, and at the top of Capitol Hill, along with numerous other Federal buildings, notably EPA headquarters, Holder’s DOJ castle, and the IRS swamp.
davidmhoffer says:
January 16, 2014 at 5:21 pm
richardscourtney;
Sewers also generate methane by degradation of sewerage.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That was exactly my thought as I read. Doesn’t look like they tried to differentiate sewer generated vs leaked, they just blamed everything they found on leaked.
“Jackson’s team collaborated with researchers from Boston University and Gas Safety, Inc., on the new study. The team mapped gas leaks under all 1,500 road miles within Washington using a high-precision Picarro G2301 Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer installed in a GPS-equipped car. Laboratory analyses then confirmed that the isotopic chemical signatures of the methane and ethane found in the survey closely matched that of pipeline gas.”
Pardon me? Just how screwball does these people’s thinking get? Methane is a trivial greenhouse gas, with almost no effect at all. The hairy scary figure we keep seeing for it is computed by assuming it is burned somehow and turned into CO2 and H20, and the GH effects of all that is added together. Well what do they think happens when the methane does not leak and goes all the way into someone’s cooktop and heats dinner? Where do they get the idea that the leak is so bad but the normal usage isn’t? Fact is, they spin and spin endlessly, omitting whatever, stressing whatever, to fool the gullible into buying their political story.
While back in the W. Va. hills, a 1938 vintage tank held together with rivets leaked a chemical into the Elk and Kenawha Rivers and 300,000 people were without water for days.
Meanwhile, our green-fatigued government gives money away so rich folks can buy a 3rd or 4th car notable for a huge and costly battery and constructs a regulatory environment within which real car companies (the profit making kind) have to help with the cost of the fancy electric ones. Just one of the dumb things money is wasted on while the Country’s serious problems are ignored. Washington stinks – tell us something we don’t already know.
Instant suicide bomber. Seem to be short on volunteers these days.
At 500,000 parts per million NG there probably isn’t enough oxygen left for an explosion.
Here in the UK when we were switching from town/coal gas (which had a smell and was poisonous) to natural gas (which has no smell) there was concern that people would not be able to detect if they had left the gas on or if there was a leak so it was decided to add Mercaptan to the gas so as to give it a noticeable smell and it does work people will report any wiff they get of gas.
In some towns gas has leaked from bad pipes for a long time that as soon as the ground is disturbed you get the smell long after the leak has been fixed.
James Bull
I remember from the early days that gas derived from coal was replaced by natural gas. There were lots of leaks and explosions from the pipe joints. Reason: coal gas was wet and kept the joint seals wet and thight. Natural gas was dried before pumping in the lines, with as result that the joint seals dried out and started to leak. After that was realized, natural gas was kept wet too…
But if the joints are made of rubber, that does deteriorate over time. Usually by oxygen, which is very low in natural gas, but after 100+ years… Earth movements by constructions and traffic when the rubber hardens and becomes more brittle is adding to the problem.
Not all leaks are the same and not all come from aging infrastructure. We detected and reported a natural gas leak in our tree lawn a couple of years ago. It was coming from a cracked plastic fitting/valve (about 30 years old) that connects the street line to the pipe feeding our house. There was no interruption in service.
I was told by a representative of the gas company that this is fairly common and represented no immediate danger since natural gas is lighter than “air” and won’t accumulate near the leak. He also told me that the gas company has 18 months (by law/regulation) to repair the leak which means that this is pretty far down the list of important jobs.
The eureka alert doesn’t attempt to quantify the leak rate or the volumes very high detections. As has been mentioned, it also doesn’t quantify the source. So, this is interesting but it really doesn’t quantify the problem, if there is one.
Some leak trivia:
If you put the probe of a flammable gas meter close to the tip of a freshly opened magic marker, it would register in the flammable range. I don’t think they are considered flammable.
A landfill is considered to be leaking if the surface methane content is above 500 ppm. 10,000 ppm (1%). http://homer.ornl.gov/sesa/environment/guidance/rcra/equipmnt.pdf
Leaks under the Hazardous Organic National Emissions Standards Hazardous Air Pollutant (HON) rule range from >500 ppm to >10,000 ppm depending on the equipment.
So, what’s a leak?
I apologize for the proof reading, part of the last post should have been:
A landfill is considered to be leaking if the surface methane content is above 500 ppm.
Connections (flanges, valves, pump seals, etc) in hazardous waste service are considered to be leaking if above 10,000 ppm (1%). http://homer.ornl.gov/sesa/environment/guidance/rcra/equipmnt.pdf
Wikipedia contains a citation of the Gas Piping and Technology Committee grading standards for leaks. It looks like a good number of these leaks would be Grade 3 (<20% LEL) and would be way down on the repair list.
Also, the Wiki article mentions a 2013 Massachusetts Bill that would address the 20,000 documented NG leaks in the state. The leaks were estimated to be 4% of the State's GHG emissions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_leak
DC is likely not a unique or unprecedented result.
Dave Wendt:
Sincere thanks for reporting in your post at January 16, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Hmmm. I would want much more information on “closely matched” before I would take that at face value.
My cynicism results from similar claims of an isotopic signal indicating an anthropogenic cause for observed in atmospheric CO2. This was asserted in the first 3 IPCC Reports, but when I ‘did the sums’ I could not find such a clear indication from the isotope data. My concerns were taken up by others and the IPCC dropped the claim. Few would now make it.
To avoid this reply to your information providing misunderstanding of what I am saying, I repeat what I said in my post at January 16, 2014 at 4:39 pm .
An assertion that “the isotopic chemical signatures of the methane and ethane found in the survey closely matched that of pipeline gas” is not useful information.
How similar to pipeline gas?
and
How different from other possible sources of methane?
The provided synopsis at the link does not say.
Richard
richardscourtney says: @ur momisugly January 17, 2014 at 4:33 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If I recall, because of all the deaths related to gas leaks way back when, the USA added a gas with a stinky smell ( mercaptan) to the natural gas so it could be detected by the human nose. That gas should be a good signature of whether or not it is commercial gas for heating that they are detecting….. linky
Gail Combs:
It was James Bull not me who (at January 17, 2014 at 12:35 am) provided the correct information concerning a smell being added to UK natural gas supplies.
It was good information and I don’t want to steal it.
As you say, the smell may be a good indicator of methane from pipelines.
Of most importance is the series of posts from Bob Greene concerning quantities of gas which are leaked from pipelines.
There are two real issues
1. Gas leaks must not pose hazard notably of explosion
and
2. Repair of gas leaks too small to cause hazard is only warranted if the value of leaked gas is more than the cost of repairing the leaks.
Richard
(1) I wouldn’t think that ‘lead pipe’ offers enough structural integrity to be compatible with our practices of placement in the ground (direct burial of said pipe), hence iron pipe was the rule.
(2) The deposition of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the pipes (in Roman times) seems to have offered a measure of protection against corrosion and ‘insulates’ against the introduction of lead into the water.
.
500,000 ppm? Why not just say 50%?
One is forced to ask the question at this point (since nothing should be simply ‘assumed’), what are the possibilities that the larger molecule comprising mercaptan (particularly tert-Butylthiol, also known as 2-methylpropane-2-thiol, 2-methyl-2-propanethiol, tert-butyl mercaptan (TBM), and t-BuSH, an organosulfur compound with the formula (CH3)3CSH (per wiki)) versus simple CH4 could be ‘filtered out’, and/or absorbed by, or react-with the ground/earth surrounding a slow natural piped-gas leak, thus yielding _less_ of an indication of a leak of *natural* gas from the pressurized distribution system?
It seems the survey team from Duke University might should have looked for evidence of mercaptan as an indicator of natural gas leaks from the pressurized distribution network, but, instead, examined directly for methane, which as others have pointed out also has natural, subterranean sources besides the sewerage network.
.