Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events
Methane super-emitter events (>100 kg methane hr ^−1 ) are prevalent across the oil and gas supply chain and are being targeted for methane mitigation policies due to their climate impacts; however, few studies have evaluated the air quality impacts and direct safety and public health risks. Here...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/addedd |
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| author | Sofia Bisogno Chowdhury G Moniruzzaman Nick Heath Christos Efstathiou Jeremy K Domen Lee Ann L Hill Jasmine Lee Drew R Michanowicz Quintin Munoz Yanelli Nunez Sebastian T Rowland Daniel Bon Daniel H Cusworth Seth B C Shonkoff Kelsey R Bilsback |
| author_facet | Sofia Bisogno Chowdhury G Moniruzzaman Nick Heath Christos Efstathiou Jeremy K Domen Lee Ann L Hill Jasmine Lee Drew R Michanowicz Quintin Munoz Yanelli Nunez Sebastian T Rowland Daniel Bon Daniel H Cusworth Seth B C Shonkoff Kelsey R Bilsback |
| author_sort | Sofia Bisogno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Methane super-emitter events (>100 kg methane hr ^−1 ) are prevalent across the oil and gas supply chain and are being targeted for methane mitigation policies due to their climate impacts; however, few studies have evaluated the air quality impacts and direct safety and public health risks. Here, we evaluate seven upstream oil and gas methane super-emitter events to examine the safety (explosivity) risks from methane and the short-term, noncancer health risks from benzene and other key co-emitted non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). We used airborne instrument and satellite-measured methane emissions rates to estimate hourly air concentrations of methane using US EPA’s American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD), a regulatory-grade dispersion model, and applied estimated speciated NMVOC-methane molar ratios to calculate hourly air concentrations of NMVOCs. We assessed when and where hourly modeled methane and NMVOC air concentrations exceeded national safety (0.5% methane) and state-based health (8 ppb and 53 ppb benzene) benchmarks. Large methane super-emitters (>2900 kg hr ^−1 ) had safety benchmark exceedances as far as 270 m from the source, indicating that safety risks are greatest for facility workers and nearby communities. Health benchmark exceedances were the greatest and most frequent close to the source (<300 m), but, in contrast to the safety risks, reached beyond one kilometer (1.1–19 km) for modeled methane super-emitters (210–15 800 kg hr ^−1 ), posing health risks to residents and sensitive populations. We also found that smaller methane super-emitters may pose outsized health risks: our second lowest methane emission case (539 kg hr ^−1 ) yielded the highest benzene air concentration (28 000 ppb), farthest 8 ppb benzene exceedance distance (19 km), and highest frequency of health benchmark exceedances between 1–5 km (2.6%). Our study demonstrates that policies and early detection efforts that control methane super-emitters should prioritize factors beyond methane emissions rate magnitude, such as gas composition, to provide the strongest co-benefits for public health and safety. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c81169678d9d4fb58d0a9342be99e9a0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-c81169678d9d4fb58d0a9342be99e9a02025-08-22T15:50:13ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120909402510.1088/1748-9326/addeddNot just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter eventsSofia Bisogno0https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1915-7290Chowdhury G Moniruzzaman1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1505-9366Nick Heath2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0328-4398Christos Efstathiou3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2226-5291Jeremy K Domen4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0481-5579Lee Ann L Hill5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-9416Jasmine Lee6https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8017-745XDrew R Michanowicz7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2538-4819Quintin Munoz8https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9693-4064Yanelli Nunez9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0950-8639Sebastian T Rowland10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6290-5372Daniel Bon11Daniel H Cusworth12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0158-977XSeth B C Shonkoff13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2696-0259Kelsey R Bilsback14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5996-1522PSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of America; Department of Environmental Health Sciences , Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York City, NY, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaCarbon Mapper , Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaCarbon Mapper , Pasadena, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of America; Environmental Health Science Division, School of Public Health, University of California , Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States of America; Energy Technologies Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab , Berkeley, CA, United States of AmericaPSE Healthy Energy , Oakland, CA, United States of AmericaMethane super-emitter events (>100 kg methane hr ^−1 ) are prevalent across the oil and gas supply chain and are being targeted for methane mitigation policies due to their climate impacts; however, few studies have evaluated the air quality impacts and direct safety and public health risks. Here, we evaluate seven upstream oil and gas methane super-emitter events to examine the safety (explosivity) risks from methane and the short-term, noncancer health risks from benzene and other key co-emitted non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). We used airborne instrument and satellite-measured methane emissions rates to estimate hourly air concentrations of methane using US EPA’s American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD), a regulatory-grade dispersion model, and applied estimated speciated NMVOC-methane molar ratios to calculate hourly air concentrations of NMVOCs. We assessed when and where hourly modeled methane and NMVOC air concentrations exceeded national safety (0.5% methane) and state-based health (8 ppb and 53 ppb benzene) benchmarks. Large methane super-emitters (>2900 kg hr ^−1 ) had safety benchmark exceedances as far as 270 m from the source, indicating that safety risks are greatest for facility workers and nearby communities. Health benchmark exceedances were the greatest and most frequent close to the source (<300 m), but, in contrast to the safety risks, reached beyond one kilometer (1.1–19 km) for modeled methane super-emitters (210–15 800 kg hr ^−1 ), posing health risks to residents and sensitive populations. We also found that smaller methane super-emitters may pose outsized health risks: our second lowest methane emission case (539 kg hr ^−1 ) yielded the highest benzene air concentration (28 000 ppb), farthest 8 ppb benzene exceedance distance (19 km), and highest frequency of health benchmark exceedances between 1–5 km (2.6%). Our study demonstrates that policies and early detection efforts that control methane super-emitters should prioritize factors beyond methane emissions rate magnitude, such as gas composition, to provide the strongest co-benefits for public health and safety.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/addeddmethaneNMVOCsbenzeneoil and gashealthclimate |
| spellingShingle | Sofia Bisogno Chowdhury G Moniruzzaman Nick Heath Christos Efstathiou Jeremy K Domen Lee Ann L Hill Jasmine Lee Drew R Michanowicz Quintin Munoz Yanelli Nunez Sebastian T Rowland Daniel Bon Daniel H Cusworth Seth B C Shonkoff Kelsey R Bilsback Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events Environmental Research Letters methane NMVOCs benzene oil and gas health climate |
| title | Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events |
| title_full | Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events |
| title_fullStr | Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events |
| title_full_unstemmed | Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events |
| title_short | Not just a climate problem: the safety and health risks of methane super-emitter events |
| title_sort | not just a climate problem the safety and health risks of methane super emitter events |
| topic | methane NMVOCs benzene oil and gas health climate |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/addedd |
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