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Chapter VII: Addressing Environmental Aspects of TS&D Infrastructure
FINDINGS IN BRIEF:
Addressing Environmental Aspects of TS&D Infrastructure
Transmission, storage, and distribution (TS&D) infrastructure can serve as a key enabler for—or barrier to—
better environmental outcomes. Certain types of TS&D infrastructure enable improvements in system-wide environmental
performance at lower cost, such as electric transmission and distribution infrastructure to access renewable energy resources
and interstate natural gas pipelines, which can facilitate carbon dioxide (CO 2
) emission reductions from the electric power
sector.
TS&D infrastructure contributes a relatively small share of total air and water pollution from the energy sector.
TS&D infrastructure covered by this installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review contributes to nearly 10 percent of U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the environmental issues related to TS&D infrastructure are subject to rules established by
existing statute and regulation.
Energy infrastructure can have direct, indirect, and cumulative land-use and ecological impacts. The nature and
magnitude of those impacts depend on a number of factors, including whether construction of a facility will affect endangered
species or sensitive ecological areas, or cause land-use impacts such as top-soil erosion or habitat fragmentation.
Energy transport, refining, and processing infrastructure contribute to emissions of criteria air pollutants that
pose risks to public health and the environment. Ports and rail yards with high densities of vehicles and congestion often
have high concentrations of pollutants and increase risks to nearby urban communities. Reducing emissions of particulate
matter from aircraft, locomotives, and marine vessels would have public health benefits. Low-income and minority households
are two to three times more likely to be affected by freight-based diesel particulate pollution than the overall U.S. population.
Transportation of crude oil by pipeline, rail, and waterborne vessels has safety and environmental impacts.
The Federal Government has a number of efforts underway to mitigate these impacts, including a rulemaking on rail transport
of crude oil.
The United States currently has a network of more than 4,500 miles of carbon dioxide (CO 2
) transportation
pipelines that can be a critical component of a low-carbon future. The pipelines mostly transport naturally occurring
CO 2
, but new projects are increasingly linking captured CO 2
from electric power plants and other industrial sources to a
productive use in oil fields (through CO 2
enhanced oil recovery) and potentially safe storage in deep saline formations.
7-2 QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015