THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF GAS UTILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES

Area of Science:

• Environmental science
• Energy infrastructure analysis
• Public policy

Background:

• Energy service providers significantly impact community safety and environment.
• Gas leaks pose widespread hazards and environmental costs across various utility types.
• Methane emissions from leaks represent a substantial environmental concern.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the national performance of retail gas utilities in managing gas leaks.
• To identify factors influencing gas leak occurrences and volumes.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions on environmental outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a novel dataset from operator reports and federal infrastructure monitoring (2009-2017).
• Analyzed data from 727 retail gas utilities across the US.
• Employed Bayesian hierarchical models to analyze leak outcomes against infrastructure, regional, and socioeconomic factors.

Main Results:

• Gas leaks and associated hazards are prevalent across utilities regardless of ownership, size, or region.
• Socioeconomic factors were not strong predictors of utility performance.
• Public utilities demonstrated superior environmental performance but similar maintenance backlogs compared to others.

Conclusions:

• Poor gas utility performance has significant social costs, primarily methane emissions.
• Policy tools like consolidation and privatization are unlikely to improve environmental outcomes.
• Targeted interventions focusing on infrastructure and regional context may be more effective.