The U.S. EPA’s Natural Gas STAR Program was implemented in the early 1990s as partof the U.S. Federal Government’s Climate Change Strategy. Gas STAR is a public-privatepartnership aimed at voluntary methane emissions reductions. The Gas Processing Sector of theU.S. Natural Gas Industry joined the Gas STAR Program in the year 2000, following a study ofbest management practices (BMPs) for cost-effective methane emission reductions. This studyinvolved the Gas Processors Association through an industry advisory committee.The primary basis for the study was a landmark report sponsored by the EPA and GasResearch Institute (GRI, now Gas Technology Institute, GTI) entitled Methane Emissions fromthe Natural Gas Industry, April, 1996. The methane emissions data in this study was collected inthe 1980’s and early 1990’s.Based on the adopted BMPs, companies who have joined the Gas STAR Program havereported saving over one billion cubic feet of methane emissions in the year 2000. A new,comprehensive study of methane emissions from four gas processing plants was published in2002 by the EPA and Clearstone Engineering, Inc. This paper identifies new opportunities formethane emission reductions from the Gas Processing Sector, as evidenced in the two studies.
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