Are Fugitive Emissions a Serious Problem?

1 million metric tons of mixed gas's Vs natures average of 700+ BILLION tons of just CO2 alone in the atmosphere.

That million metric tons would still get lost in the +- Billions of tons variance that even a unrealistically accurate 1% margin of error will introduce to the overall equation.

In planetary scales a million tons of emissions is just a horse fart on a breezy day. Unless you make an effort go poking your nose around in places it doesn't belong you will never know it even existed.

I agree so much with the previous comment.

The governments bureaucratic knee-jerk reactions permitted cost taxpayers zillions of dollars.

I truly fear that if a real were discovered by the wrong person they would hide the results out of pure viciousness.

On the other hand, I have to admit some need for oversight.

Citizen participation - the contributing of opinion by persons with specialized knowledge but without potential for personal gain - seems to be one of the few solutions.

Yeah who cares about a couple more dead lakes, decimated forests, or the increased cases of health issues going on globally. Nature will cure itself when we're long gone.

Good one.

I love it when non-environmental people write about environmental issues! They always get it wrong. The US EPA definition of fugitive emissions can be found in this guidance document which I pasted below.

The EPA defines "fugitive emissions" in the regulations promulgated under title V as "those emissions which could not reasonably pass through a stack, chimney, vent, or other functionally-equivalent opening" (see title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, sections 70.2 and 71.2).

As for the poor equipment maintenance discussed by the other two comments, thermal imaging cameras will show exactly how much is leaking from the valves. It is far from minute especially when we are talking about Title V sources. VOCs are a major contributor to ground level ozone which we all know is bad and damages human lungs and vegetation (including the crops we eat). VOCs also can contain VHAPs. Without going further into this, it should be evident that VOCs significantly impact human health and the environment. If you have a problem believing me, research it yourself.