Regional Ozone Impacts of Increased Natural Gas Use in the Texas Power Sector and Development in the Eagle Ford Shale

Abstract

The combined emissions and air quality impacts of electricity generation in the Texas grid and natural gas production in the Eagle Ford shale were estimated at various natural gas price points for the power sector. The increased use of natural gas in the power sector, in place of coal-fired power generation, drove reductions in average daily maximum 8 h ozone concentration of 0.6-1.3 ppb in northeastern Texas for a high ozone episode used in air quality planning. The associated increase in Eagle Ford upstream oil and gas production nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions caused an estimated local increase, in south Texas, of 0.3-0.7 ppb in the same ozone metric. In addition, the potential ozone impacts of Eagle Ford emissions on nearby urban areas were estimated. On the basis of evidence from this work and a previous study on the Barnett shale, the combined ozone impact of increased natural gas development and use in the power sector is likely to vary regionally and must be analyzed on a case by case basis.

Quantifying alkane emissions in the Eagle Ford Shale using boundary layer enhancement

“…This area includes portions of several counties in the EFS -notably Atascosa, Bee, Karnes, Live Oak, and Wilson counties -which are members of AACOG (2015). Pacsi et al (2015) found that, among all counties in the EFS, NO x emissions from these counties had the greatest impact on ozone enhancement in Bexar County, home to the city of San Antonio. Therefore, quantifying emissions from these counties in the core of the EFS is a particularly important step in assessing the air quality impacts of oil and gas operations in the San Antonio area.…”

“…Bexar County ozone design values for recent years exceeded both the current and previous ozone standards of 70 and 75 ppb (Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), 2014; US Environmental Protection Agency, 2015b), while ozone levels in Houston, a nonattainment area, have dropped below levels in San Antonio. Modeling studies for the San Antonio region (AACOG, 2013a;Pacsi et al, 2015) have found that emissions from the EFS contribute significantly to regional ozone formation. However, these studies have utilized emission inventories that may underestimate the magnitude of emissions from oil and gas operations in the shale area.…”

Use of Combined Observational- and Model-Derived Photochemical Indicators to Assess the O3-NOx-VOC System Sensitivity in Urban Areas

“…The Burgos Basin represents around two-thirds of the estimated 550 trillion cubic feet of shale gas recoverable in Mexico, which is the sixth largest reservoir in the world [50]. The introduction of shale gas extraction and energy production will likely increase the regional emissions of VOCs and NO x , impacting the photochemistry of the MMA airshed during events of enhanced regional transport [51]. Increasing NO x levels upwind of the MMA could foster higher O 3 levels.…”

A decade of changes in nitrogen oxides over regions of oil and natural gas activity in the United States

“…Numerous studies have also shown that regional ozone (O 3 ), a health hazard and criteria pollutant regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is also influenced by O&NG emissions during both summer (e.g. Kemball-Cook et al, 2010;McDuffie et al, 2016;Pacsi et al, 2015;Rodriguez et al, 2009) and winter seasons (e.g. Ahmadov et al, 2015;Carter and Seinfeld, 2012;Edwards et al, 2013Edwards et al, , 2014Field et al, 2014;Helmig et al, 2014;Oltmans et al, 2013;Schnell et al, 2009).…”