Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, today released the following statement commenting on an initiative by the Obama administration to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector:
“INGAA looks forward to working with the administration on research and development and other opportunities to quantify and encourage even greater methane reductions from natural gas transmission pipelines.
“Pipelines want to reduce releases of natural gas from our systems, not only for environmental reasons, but for safety and business reasons. The natural gas pipeline industry has an incentive to minimize gas losses. We make money by safely delivering natural gas, so we want to keep that gas in the pipeline.
“As a result, interstate natural gas pipelines routinely run tests (including with internal pipeline inspection tools) to look for leaks even before they happen and repair them to avoid releases. We continue to seek new and innovative technologies to target and reduce leaks and capture gas released or vented from the pipeline during testing, maintenance and repair activities.
“We are pleased the administration has embraced natural gas because it is domestic, abundant, affordable and clean-burning, and also because it has been one of the few bright spots in the nation’s economy in recent years by helping to revive the U.S. manufacturing industry and putting disposable income in the pockets of Americans as a result of lower energy prices. Reducing releases will only cement natural gas’ future as a central part of America’s energy policy.”
