\ncomputer-sized analyzer connected to a translucent tube that snaked out the
\nroof of the van. The analyzer is made by a Silicon Valley company called Picarro<\/a> and it provides real-time measurements
\nof methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. By correlating the data with
\nwind patterns, Picarro scientists can pinpoint the source of emissions. Oil and
\ngas operations emit methane, which can also indicate the presence of benzene and
\nother carcinogens, according to Picarro scientists.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is an image created by a mashup of the methane concentrations recorded by the Picarro analyzer in Flower Mound, Texas, overlaid on a Google map.A Picarro employee had driven the van to Texas from <\/p>\n DISH—the name is capitalized because in 2005 the town <\/p>\n Twenty miles to the southeast in the Dallas exurb of Flower <\/p>\n “I see this as very, very beneficial to the environmental <\/p>\n (Last month, I <\/p>\n Unlike other analyzers that require trained operators, the <\/p>\n That ease of use and the machine’s ability to take stealthy <\/p>\n Once activists pinpointed the methane emissions in DISH and <\/p>\n “We think the day will come sooner than most people realize <\/p>\n Picarro, which licenses its core technology from Stanford <\/p>\n So why is the company making common cause with the environmental <\/p>\n “We see a real market for our products,” says Alex Salkever, a Picarro spokesman. “We don’t see a <\/p>\n Picarro made inroads with the activist community in January <\/p>\n “Ultimately, we would be happy if natural gas companies buy <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Environmental group Earthworks made this video of its stealth monitoring of methane emissions near natural gas compression stations in North Texas.<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Is Bill Barrett Corp’s Major Lobbying Spree Aimed at Ken Salazar?<\/a><\/p>\n New cases of water pollution documented at U.S. coal ash dumps<\/a><\/p>\n Bill Barrett Corporation deploys lobbyists to protect sweet drilling deal in the Rockies<\/a><\/p>\n
\nCalifornia at the request of Wilma Subra, a Louisiana scientist, environmental
\njustice activist and MacArthur genius grant recipient. Picarro’s director of
\nresearch and development, Chris Rella, flew to Texas and joined Subra and
\nactivists from Earthworks<\/a>’ Texas Oil & Gas
\nAccountability Project<\/a> on the hunt for fugitive emissions in the towns of
\nDISH and Flower Mound.<\/p>\n
\nchanged its name in exchange for free satellite television from the DISH
\nNetwork—is home to about 200 people and a dozen compression stations that
\npush natural gas from wells into pipelines. As the Picarro van drove around
\nDISH, concentrations of methane spiked from background concentrations of 1.8
\nparts per million to 20 parts per million near the compression stations. As the
\nanalyzer recorded the spikes they were automatically plotted on a Google map.<\/p>\n
\nMound, methane concentrations near natural gas wells literally went off the
\nanalyzer’s chart, topping 40 parts per million, says Subra and Picarro
\nexecutives.<\/p>\n
\njustice movement,” says Subra. “It gives you real-time data and you can
\npotentially identify the source as opposed to having to collect air samples and
\nthen have them analyzed. You can see the plume on the map and how close houses
\nare to the compressor stations.”<\/p>\n
\ntook a ride in the same van with Rella to chart methane plumes<\/a> from oil
\nrefineries in the San Francisco Bay Area. As atmospheric gases are drawn into
\nthe analyzer, laser beams are shot into an “optical cavity” in the machine.
\nMethane and carbon molecules are absorbed at different wavelengths and the
\nlasers measure the amount of absorption.)<\/p>\n
\nPicarro machine can run more-or-less on autopilot.<\/p>\n
\nand instantaneous measurements could prove to be a powerful tool for
\nenvironmental justice activists pressing companies to disclose emissions of
\npollutants.<\/p>\n
\nFlower Mound, they presented
\ntheir findings<\/a> to Texas environmental authorities. They also took air
\nsamples to be analyzed for other pollutants.<\/p>\n
\nwhen school kids can literally take an analyzer like ours and drive it around
\ntown,” Michael Woelk, Picarro’s chief executive, told me last month. “In a
\nmatter of hours they could put up online a Google map showing methane gas
\nplumes and other plumes around their community and with that demand that
\nsomething be done.”<\/p>\n
\nUniversity, has sold its $50,000 analyzers to the U.S. National Oceanic and
\nAtmospheric Administration, the Chinese government and academic scientists.
\nCalifornia is deploying the machines to create the world’s
\nfirst statewide greenhouse<\/a> gas monitoring network.<\/p>\n
\njustice movement?<\/p>\n
\nlot of environmental justice groups buying $50,000 analyzers. But the EPA or
\nanother group could give grants for a library of analyzers that get lent out.”<\/p>\n
\nwhen company executives attended a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
\nenvironmental justice meeting in New Orleans. They met Subra and did a
\ndrive-around of Louisiana petrochemical plants to demonstrate the analyzer’s
\ncapabilities.<\/p>\n
\nour machines to know what’s going on with their facilities in real time,” says
\nSalkever. “We see this as a market where we’ll be doing well by doing good.”<\/p>\n
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