Air Emissions from Natural Gas Facilities in New York State

While New York has banned fracking, new and expanded natural gas pipelines are being constructed across the state. Our previous studies have reported that compressor stations are a major source of air pollution at fracking sites. We have used two federal datasets, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emissions Inventory and Greenhouse Gas Inventory, to determine what is known concerning emissions from the compressor stations along natural gas pipelines in the state. From a total of 74 compressor stations only 18 report to EPA on emissions. In the seven year period between 2008 and 2014 they released a total of 36.99 million pounds of air pollutants, not including CO₂ and methane. This included emissions of 39 chemicals known to be human carcinogens. There was in addition 6.1 billion pounds of greenhouse gases release from ten stations in a single year. These data clearly underestimate the total releases from the state’s natural gas transportation and distribution system. However, they demonstrate significant releases of air pollutants, some of which are known to cause human disease. In addition, they release large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.