Coal and Natural Gas Exports
Many recent debates have centered on oil and natural gas exports, given increases in production. Some are supportive of expanding producers’ market access, while others have appealed to the Obama administration or proposed moratoria on these exports, citing environmental and energy security issues.
RFF Senior Fellow Joel Darmstadter tackled this complex issue, examining the impacts of natural gas and coal exports on domestic prices and the environment. He finds that “even an elevated amount of [natural gas] exports will leave domestic prices well contained” and that “it is almost certain that US exports merely displace Colombian, Australian, Indonesian, or other coal supplies that would fill the breach created by US export restrictions.”
Shale Gas Impacts on Surface Water
The potential effects of shale gas development on water quality in Pennsylvania have been of concern to residents and environmentalists, with much of the attention focused on groundwater. However, recent research by RFF scholars shows that shale gas experts are also concerned about potential impacts on surface water.
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, RFF’s Sheila Olmstead, Lucija Muehlenbachs, Jhih-Shyang Shih, Ziyan Chu, and Alan Krupnick found statistically significant water quality impacts from shale gas development wastewater treatment and runoff from activity related to shale gas infrastructure in Pennsylvania: “While much of the public concern and controversy around shale gas development has focused on its impacts on groundwater, our findings indicate that there are risks to rivers and streams.” Muehlenbachs elaborated on Common Resources that the data show no evidence of “systematically dumping or accidentally spilling wastewater into nearby streams. . . . Chloride entered indirectly, via waste treatment plants.”
Fisheries Management
On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard is holding a hearing titled, “Developments and Opportunities in US Fisheries Management.”
According to RFF Nonresident Fellow James Sanchirico and coauthor Kailin Kroetz, individual transferable quotas (ITQs) “have been found to significantly reduce the likelihood that fish stocks are overfished and that fishermen compete to catch as much as possible as fast as possible by capping the aggregate industry-wide catch and guaranteeing fisherman a share of the catch.” This system eliminates the “race to fish” that exists under traditional “derby-style” management systems, while encouraging economic efficiency and healthy fishing communities and ecosystems.
