Don’t feed fracking Denton

Will Denton feed fracking by building two new natural gas power plants?

Here is the presentation I gave in Denton Sunday night at the meeting Councilwoman Keely Briggs held for the public.

Sources

Note: Much of the material for this presentation I got from my previous blog posts because I use my blog like a file cabinet. The information in my blog posts is sourced. There are a few instances below where I used one of my prior blog posts as a source for the information in the presentation. The links will contain all the information you need to substantiate the information in my presentation.

Slide Three:

Texas Administrative Code Permit By Rule

Cornell calculations sent to me by email:

The recip. engines proposed are given a rating of 154.4 MMBtu/hr for each engine (so, 1852.8 for all 12 engines, HHV); assuming a dry gas heat rate of 1050 Btu/scf, the plant would require a feed of 1.76 MMscf/hr while operating at  100% capacity (40% capacity = 0.8 MMscf/hr). Summertime, the plant would more likely operate at full capacity, but rates will vary between the two values throughout the year.

According to Drllinginfo, the average Barnett shale gas well INITIALLY produces about 1.7MMscf/DAY, or about 0.07MMscf/hr.  That number declines to about 0.03MMscf/hr after 1 year of production.

Therefore, if the gas was coming only from NEW wells (not possible, not illustrative), it would require 1.76/.07 = 25 wells to feed the plant.  A year later, it would require about 58 wells.  The required number of wells continues to rise over time, as well production declines.

Slide Four:

• Argyle Central Facility Permit Part 1, Part 2
• Open records request
• Blowdown calculations

Slide Five:

From the Department of Duh.

Slide Six:

Video: Fundamental Chemical Toxicology with Exposure Related to Shale Gas Development – David Brown, ScD

Slide Seven:

• EPA: Climate change indicators in the U.S.
• Sources of methane

Slide Eight:

• NOAA – 4% in Denver: Led by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado, Boulder, the study estimates that natural-gas producers in an area known as the Denver-Julesburg Basin are losing about 4% of their gas to the atmosphere — not including additional losses in the pipeline and distribution system. Source
• NOAA – 9% Uintah Basin: The measurements show that on one February day in the Uintah Basin, the natural gas field leaked 6 to 12 percent of the methane produced, on average, on February days. Source
• Purdue in PA: A survey of hydraulic fracturing sites in Pennsylvania revealed drilling operations releasing plumes of methane 100 to 1,000 times the rate the EPA expects from that stage of drilling, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Source
• EDF in Texas: Overall, the studies found that emissions of methane––a greenhouse gas at least 34 times more potent than carbon dioxide––in the Texas Barnett Shale were 50 percent higher than estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Source
• Climate Impacts of Methane Losses from Modern Natural Gas & Petroleum Systems
• PSE Methane Summary

Slide Nine

What do leeches have to do with fracking and climate change?

Slide Eleven

Water vapor from natural gas combustion accelerates climate change

Final Slide

Leave Fossil Fuels Burried

You can get Smitty’s presentation here.

Previous postings on this topic:

 

• SOS from Denton Fracking Zone
• Greenwashing Denton Fracking
• What the hell Denton?
• Natural Gas Power Plant Bad Economics for Denton

Recent post:

• Open Letter to Denton City Council