The United States in 2021 became Europe’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas, followed by Qatar and Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
A natural gas industry group says with the right policy and support for infrastructure, Pennsylvania can play an increasing role in helping exports meet more of Europe’s needs in the face of turmoil linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We’re at a point here where you see energy and energy policy really intertwined with everything that’s happening over in Europe and specifically in Ukraine, as well, where Europe is heavily reliant on Russian natural gas,” Marcellus Shale Coalition President David Callahan told lehighvalleylive.com.
Critics argue increased reliance on natural gas is not the solution for global energy needs, dismissing its potential as a transition fuel toward wind and solar and away from coal that generates more greenhouse gases when burned.
Ramping up renewable energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s attack is the focus, along with energy security, of a visit by Germany’s vice chancellor to Washington, D.C. The Russian invasion of Ukraine led Germany in February to take steps toward halting the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia, as the West started taking punitive measures against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. About half of the natural gas used in Germany comes from Russia. The government aims to end the use of all fossil fuels in Germany by 2045.
“The only forms of energy that don’t belong to anyone, where nobody can say, ‘It’s all mine and I’m going to blackmail you with,’ are wind and solar,” Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also Germany’s economy and climate minister, said this week.
Pa. is 2nd-biggest natural gas producer in U.S.
Pennsylvania’s marketed natural gas production, primarily from the Marcellus Shale geologic formation underlying much of the state, reached a record 7.1 trillion cubic feet in 2020, and the state is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer after Texas, the federal EIA says. Natural gas generation surpassed nuclear generation in 2019 to provide the largest share of in-state electricity generation, and Pennsylvania is the third-largest net supplier of total energy to other states, after Wyoming and Texas, according to the agency.
The roadblocks to sharing more Pennsylvania natural gas with the world are the need for more infrastructure, like pipelines, Callahan said. He called last falls’ cancellation of the PennEast Pipeline from the Marcellus Shale fields into New Jersey “deeply disappointing,” with the energy companies comprising PennEast pinning the decision on difficulty securing permits for the project.
Callahan also sees a need for more export facilities, like Dominion Energy’s Cove Point gas liquefaction plant in Maryland and numerous others along the Gulf of Mexico.
“These projects are necessary, they’re necessary to get product to where it’s needed to serve end-use customers,” Callahan said, calling on “leaders from all levels of government, from all parties to come together and recognize the same goal” of prioritizing export opportunities.
Along with consumers, both domestically and overseas, natural gas infrastructure benefits the building trades who rely on projects like pipeline construction, Callahan said. He argued natural gas carries environmental benefits, as well. Citing data from the Energy Information Administration, the Marcellus Shale Coalition says Pennsylvania had the highest absolute decline of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions of any state from 1990 to 2018, resulting in a more than 16% reduction over this time period when natural gas because the state’s No. 1 energy source — displacing greenhouse emissions-free nuclear but also coal and fuel oil.
Groundwater can be a focus of concern from natural gas production, which involves a process called hydraulic fracturing that injects chemical-laden water and sand deep underground to break apart the gas-containing shale. One of the best-known pollution cases ever to emerge from the U.S. drilling and fracking boom is continuing in Dimock, Pennsylvania. But that case has entered a difficult new phase as prosecutors pursue criminal charges against Pennsylvania’s most prolific gas driller — and push for a settlement they say could yield more significant benefits for affected homeowners than a conviction. The option prosecutors recently discussed, however, has put them at odds with some residents who reject individual water treatment systems as inadequate and unworkable. These residents want to be hooked up to public water — itself a controversial idea in their rural community, one that state environmental officials talked up more than a decade ago but ultimately abandoned.
The Marcellus Shale Coalition says water is a key component to the unconventional natural gas development process, and numerous scientific studies have proven natural gas poses no threat to area water quantity or quality, citing a Penn State University study from 2018 that found: “... the groundwater chemistry in one of the areas most heavily developed for shale gas — an area with 1400 new gas wells — does not appear to be getting worse with time, and may even be getting better.”
Arguments predate this war, critics say
PennEnvironment Executive Director David Masur said Tuesday that arguments that natural gas burns cleaner ignores “lifecycle emissions” from fracking, including the release of methane from well pads, pipelines and even into homes and which is a greater driver of climate change than carbon dioxide.
“The reality is any time you burn fossil fuels, you’re going to have greenhouse gas emissions,” Masur told lehighvalleylive.com. “That’s just the chemistry of the process.”
He said expanding infrastructure to boost natural gas exports will not have short-term effects on the crisis over Ukraine, and using the war to justify delaying climate commitments would harm efforts to leave a livable planet to future generations.
“These are a lot of the same arguments that the industry has tried to put out for many years before there was the war with Russia and Ukraine,” Masur said.
Pennsylvania House Republicans on Feb. 17, one week before Russia’s invasion, sent Gov. Tom Wolf a letter citing the Keystone State’s “unique position to aid our European allies.” It called on the second-term Democrat, whose successor voters are choosing in 2022, to work with the industry and trades unions to specify projects that can enhance export opportunities; streamline the permitting process for production and transmission infrastructure; and work with the state Office of International Business Development and federal lawmakers to strategize ways “to match supply opportunities here in Pennsylvania with demand in Europe,” according to the letter signed by state Rep. Martina White, R-Philadelphia, the majority caucus secretary.
Wolf’s office on Tuesday responded to the House GOP’s letter, calling it “disappointing that some are exploiting this humanitarian and geopolitical catastrophe in order to curry favor with the natural gas industry, or to open a new front in their efforts to stop Pennsylvania from addressing climate change.”
In a statement Feb. 25 on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Callahan opened by saying: “First and foremost, our industry extends our deepest concerns to the Ukrainian people, who remain in our hearts, thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult period. Russia’s aggression will have lasting impact on regional and global geopolitics, and it must be confronted forcefully, in part by weakening Moscow’s weaponization of regional energy supplies.
“America is the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas, with the Appalachian Basin alone representing the third largest producing region in the world, positioning our industry to assist our strategic trading partners and meet our own energy demands,” he continued.
In response to the Republican lawmakers’ letter, Wolf spokeswoman Elizabeth Rementer told lehighvalleylive.com: “The administration is open to exploring ways to support the global impact on Russia’s horrific actions in launching an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, including exporting natural gas and fostering business development with natural gas producers.
“Pennsylvania plays an important role in the global market and the governor has made significant investments in our ports, which help with the exporting of goods overseas. Further, our administration through the Office of International Business Development has fostered a strong relationship with the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.”
Pennsylvania also has taken punitive measures against Russian’s Ukraine aggression, with state lawmakers drafting legislation to require the state Treasury Department and the state’s three public pension funds to divest holdings connected to Russia and some selling-off already underway Monday. At Wolf’s urging, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board agreed Sunday to remove Russian-sourced products from state Fine Wine & Good Spirits shops.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.