DGCC Engages States On the Role Of Differentiated Gas
Differentiated Gas Coordinating Council Blog
March 28, 2023
Earlier today, Differentiated Gas Coordinating Council (DGCC) Executive Director Tom Hassenboehler spoke at the 2023 ECOS Spring Meeting to discuss how voluntary differentiated gas markets work with—not against—federal and state environmental regulations to reduce methane emissions.
Hassenboehler discussed how differentiated gas can supplement the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent actions on methane emissions to achieve emissions reductions beyond what federal standards require. While EPA’s regulations will help improve emissions across the oil and gas sector, more could be done. This is where advanced monitoring technologies and differentiated gas come in.
Operators who adopt advanced methane emissions monitoring technologies can produce natural gas with a much lower emissions profile. This differentiated gas can be sold at a premium. EPA has an opportunity to accelerate and validate these developments by funding the large-scale deployment of advanced monitoring technologies, as recommended by the DGCC. Such an investment would provide trustworthy data, improve emissions transparency, and accelerate the transactability of differentiated gas, helping states and local communities reach their climate goals faster.
To learn more about how states can unlock the potential of differentiated gas, please contact us at info@dgccouncil.com.
Background:
The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization that brings together state and territorial environmental agency leaders to improve the capacity of their agencies to protect and improve human health and the environment in the U.S. During the 2023 ECOS Spring Meeting, the ECOS Oil and Gas Caucus hosted a breakout on Model Methane & Air Activities. Participants included:
ECOS O&GC Co-Chair and Cross-Media Committee Chair Jim Kenney, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Environment Department
Kim Mendoza-Cooke, Director, U.S. Onshore Policy & External Affairs, Occidental Petroleum
Ted Kelly, Senior Attorney, Energy Markets & Regulation, Environmental Defense Fund
Tom Hassenboehler, Executive Director, Differentiated Gas Coordinating Council
Donna Vorhees, Director of Energy Research, Health Effects Institute Energy