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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
14-P-0324
July 25, 2014
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this evaluation
to determine what actions the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has taken to
reduce methane emissions
from leaking pipelines in the
natural gas distribution sector.
Methane is a potent
greenhouse gas with a global
warming potential 25 times that
of carbon dioxide. In June
2013, President Obama issued
the Climate Action Plan, which
states that "curbing emissions
of methane is critical to our
overall effort to address global
climate change." In 2012, the
EPA reported that methane
leaks from pipelines in the
natural gas distribution sector
accounted for more than
13 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent emissions.
These leaks are comprised of
natural gas product, which is
almost 100 percent methane,
and account for more than
10 percent of total methane
emissions from natural gas
systems.
This report addresses the
following EPA goal or
cross-agency strategy:
• Addressing climate change
and improving air quality.
For further information,
contact our public affairs office
at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2014/
20140725-14-P-0324.pdf
Improvements Needed in EPA Efforts
to Address Methane Emissions From
Natural Gas Distribution Pipelines
Methane emissions impact climate
change through leaks in natural
gas distribution pipelines, and also
have economic impacts. We
estimate that more than
$192 million in natural gas was lost
in 2011 due to such leaks, a cost
that is borne by consumers.
What We Found
The EPA has placed little focus and
attention on reducing methane emissions
from pipelines in the natural gas
distribution sector. In 2012, the EPA stated
its intent to continue to evaluate the
appropriateness of regulating methane.
The 2013 Climate Action Plan calls for the
EPA, in conjunction with other federal
agencies, to develop a comprehensive
interagency strategy to address methane emissions. The EPA does not currently
regulate methane emissions from the distribution sector and has not partnered
with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates
pipeline safety, to control methane leaks. The EPA has a voluntary program to
address methane leaks—Natural Gas STAR—but its efforts through this program
have resulted in limited reductions of methane emissions from distribution
pipelines. This is due largely to financial and policy barriers, including
disincentives for distribution companies to repair nonhazardous leaks.
The agency needs to address additional issues to better assess progress from
the voluntary program and determine if future regulations are warranted. The
EPA needs to set goals and track its progress in reducing emissions from
distribution pipelines through its voluntary program. Also, the EPA needs to
evaluate data from ongoing external studies to determine their usefulness for
validating or updating its distribution pipeline emission factors. The emission
factors that the EPA uses are based on a 1996 study, which has a high level of
uncertainty. Two non-EPA groups are conducting studies that may be useful to
the EPA. However, the EPA's involvement in the design or protocols of these
studies has been limited.
Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions
We recommend that the EPA (1) work with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration to address methane leaks from a combined environmental
and safety standpoint, (2) develop a strategy to address the financial and policy
barriers that hinder reductions from the distribution sector, (3) establish
performance goals, (4) track distribution sector emissions and use that data to
help determine if future regulation would be appropriate, and (5) assess whether
data from ongoing studies should be used to update distribution sector emission
factors. The agency agreed with recommendations 1 and 2 and provided
corrective action plans that meet the intent of the recommendations. The agency
partially agreed with recommendations 3, 4 and 5 and these three
recommendations are considered unresolved.

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