УПРАВЛЕНИЕ ВЫБРОСАМИ ПРИ ДОБЫЧЕ НЕФТИ И ГАЗА В КАЛИФОРНИИ

Oil and natural gas are the largest primary global energy sources, and upstream gas emissions from these fuels can impact global climate change and local public health. We identify gaps in the existing landscape of emissions reduction strategies and highlight options for addressing them. We examined the effects of upstream oil and gas preproduction (count of drilling sites) and production (total volume of oil and gas) activities on concentrations of five ambient air pollutants in California. Policy recommendations include the use of new digital monitoring technologies to better understand causes of emission events, to create data-driven oil and gas regulations, and to begin accurately measuring the volumes of gases released during oil and gas production. Over the past decade, sensor networks have been proven valuable to assess air quality on highly localized scales. Here we leverage innovative sensors to characterize gaseous pollutants in a complex urban environment and evaluate differences in air quality in three different Los Angeles neighborhoods where oil and gas activity is present. We deployed monitors across urban neighborhoods in South Los Angles adjacent to oil and gas facilities with varying levels of production. Using low-cost sensors built inhouse, we measured methane, total non-methane hydrocarbons (TNMHCs), carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide during three deployment campaigns over four years. Adjusting for geographic, meteorological, seasonal, and time-trending factors, we observed higher concentrations of ambient air pollutants at air quality monitors in proximity to preproduction wells within 4 km and producing wells within 2 km