Cambria 33 Abandoned Coal Mine Methane Capture Project

» See our response to public comments on this project

The Cambria 33 project is located at an abandoned coal mine near Ebensburg, Pennsylvania.

As a part of the geologic process which transforms plant material into coal, coal bed methane is formed and trapped in coal seams. This methane is released when coal is mined, and continues to migrate to the atmosphere from the mine through drainage wells and ventilation shafts for decades after a mine is abandoned. According to the US EPA, capture and use of methane emissions from abandoned mines is not required by law and is very unusual in the United States.¹

This project captures methane from the “B” seam of the abandoned Cambria 33 mine. Captured gas is upgraded and injected into to a nearby natural gas pipeline, for use by local residents and businesses. The project came online in March 2008.

TerraPass funds help ensure reasonable economic return for the project. This project is the first to be verified under a new Voluntary Carbon Standard methodology designed to quantify the emissions reductions from coal mine methane capture at abandoned mines.

Project details

The Cambria 33 mine opened in 1968, and is made up of five seams. In the late 1980s, it was the largest operating mine in Cambria County, but was subsequently abandoned in 1994. The mine was not sealed, so until the installation of the project, methane was allowed to seep into the atmosphere from the abandoned mine unabated for nearly fifteen years.

In the mid 2000s, Vessels Coal Gas acquired the rights to Cambria 33s abandoned B seam. Vessels Coal Gas is a Colorado-based company, founded by technical mine experts expressly for the purpose of developing coal mine methane capture projects at working and abandoned coal mines in the United States. At that time, Vessels also leased a portion of the farmland overlying Cambria 33 from the Pileski family, who uses the land to grow and harvest hay and corn.

Over the summer and fall of 2006, Vessels monitored the existing air shaft and wells from the old mine to confirm that the mine was a net source of methane emissions to the atmosphere. In preparation for the project, two new wells were drilled to serve as the collection point for methane from the mine. The project came online in March 2008, when the gas upgrading system, described below, began operating.

The project wells are connected to a gas blower which vacuums methane from the mine and delivers the gas to a pressure swing adsorption unit. The unit compresses the gas, pushing it through several molecular sieves to remove impurities. The purified gas is then injected into a nearby Peoples Natural Gas utility pipeline, for delivery to their customers. In order to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project, an electricity generator was installed in December 2010. This generator is fueled by gas captured from the mine and serves to power the projects gas upgrading and injection equipment, which had previously relied on grid power. The grid power in the area is generated primarily from coal-fired power plants.

Project location

The project is located near Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Other social and environmental benefits and costs

Environmental benefits

• The project helps control the negative environmental effects of an abandoned coal mine by reducing local air pollution from passive methane emissions.
• The project reduces greenhouse gases emissions from an uncapped source. Methane is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and this project ensures the collected methane is destroyed via combustion in the electricity generator and by Peoples Natural Gas customer use.
• The project displaces natural gas which would otherwise be extracted as a virgin resource.
• In a region heavily dependent on coal for electricity, the project helps reduce emissions related to electricity generation.

Social benefits

• The project has created one local plant manager job.
• The project provides a source of natural gas for local residences and businesses that would otherwise have gone to waste.
• The project provides a source of revenue for the Pileski family farm that owns the land over the mine and on which the project is located.

Project’s ability to foster further greenhouse gas emission reductions

• This project required the development of a new carbon project quantification method for methane capture at abandoned coal mines. Now that this methodology exists, it is available for use at other abandoned mines, and thus provides an incentive to implement similar projects for their carbon benefits.
• According to the EPAs Abandoned Coal Mine Methane database, capture and reuse of coal mine methane is rare at abandoned mines. ² This project can serve as a role model for other projects in the U.S.

Project’s environmental and social costs

• The project required a construction effort and its attendant fossil fuel use, as well as the manufacture of a generator and pressure swing adsorption unit along with associated consumption of energy intensive goods such as concrete and steel.
• Non-methane gases removed from the gas stream during upgrading (primarily nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) are released directly to the atmosphere. However, this would also have occurred in the business as usual scenario.
• The projects generator will emit small amounts of criteria air pollutants, as is typical for such equipment.

Discussion of appropriate use of TerraPass funds

This project is a good candidate for TerraPass funds as potential carbon revenue was a decisive factor in raising capital for the projects construction. The projects investors had specific and unique interest in creating carbon credits. It is clearly additional, and a unique model to help turn the local impacts of an abandoned coal mine into a community benefit.

TerraPass considers many aspects of projects before deciding whether to fund them. A summary of key considerations for this project follows.

Baseline conditions

Prior to the implementation of the project, methane gas was vented directly to the atmosphere through eight gas wells and one large diameter air shaft originally installed to drain gas from the mine when it was operational.

Additionality

No regulatory requirements. There are no state or federal regulations requiring the capture and control of methane at abandoned coal mines.

Barriers to implementation. A major barrier to implementation was the need for investment capital. Prior to the projects construction, Vessels approached a wide variety of investors, but failed to secure funding. Ultimately, the project was funded by an investor whose main interest in the project was its potential to generate revenue from carbon credits.

Impact of TerraPass funds. This is a very unusual project. Methane emissions from abandoned coal mines represent a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., yet no regulations or compliance markets exist to provide incentives to capture and destroy abandoned coal mine methane. In the absence of regulation, voluntary carbon purchasers can play an important role in encouraging the widespread implementation of abandoned coal mine methane projects. Accordingly, TerraPass funds send a clear signal to potential developers of similar projects that revenue from carbon offsets is a viable source of project income.

Better than most. TerraPass wants our projects to stand out as role models. Therefore we look favorably on unique projects that demonstrate new technologies or creative end uses, or which make it clear that a sensible financial return is possible.

Cambria 33 is pioneering carbon project for the capture and use of abandoned coalmine methane. The unique use of the gas (upgrading the gas and injecting it into a local natural gas pipeline) and its reliance on revenue from both gas sales and carbon credits also demonstrate the economic viability of this project type.

1. See EPA Abandoned Coal Mine Methane Opportunities Database at http://www.epa.gov/cmop/docs/amm_final_report.pdf
2. ibid.