Leave it to the rocket scientists to solve our biggest climate mysteries. That’s exactly what NASA has done to kick off 2018, using a spectrometer imaging satellite to measure global methane emissions—a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change—and revealing an alarming increase in these emissions that threatens our climate.
Methane, Fracked Gas & Climate
Methane (the main component in natural gas) is 100 times as bad for the climate as carbon dioxide over the short term. Less CO2 is emitted by natural gas than by coal when burned. But significant leakage of methane before burning makes gas a disaster for the climate, as revealed even more by recent science. Yet utilities and the gas industry are still feverishly promoting fracked gas.
NC WARN is working hard to connect the dots between climate change, methane leakage and the fracking boom that is driven by demand from the electric power industry.
Learn more about our methane work here.
Watch a 3-minute video by Cornell University’s Dr. Robert Howarth describing why natural gas is a disastrous strategy for the climate. More videos, PowerPoints and documentation here.
“Everything You Need to Know About Methane”, a primer by Earthjustice.
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Take ‘Clean Path’ — News & Observer
Letter to the Editor from Jim Warren: Every time a Duke Energy executive calls fracked natural gas “clean-burning,” it’s a pivotal lie of omission that very few reporters have been allowed to scrutinize since U.S. utilities began a huge expansion of gas burning.
Gas Pipeline Approval Abuses People and is a Climate and Economic Tragedy — News Release from NC WARN
Governor Cooper’s approval of fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline could commit energy customers to pay for outdated technology. This decision is a loser for the people of eastern North Carolina, their economy and the urgent fight to slow climate change.
The end of natural gas is near… — Medium
Amidst the madness of 2017, a bigger shift was missed than probably any other — right at the commanding heights of the economy: Natural gas fizzled out of the plan for the future.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline points the wrong way to energy’s future — News & Observer
Editorial by Ned Barnett. Duke Energy and other advocates for building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline have come up with a peculiar new justification for the $5 billion project – climate change.
New NASA Study Solves Climate Mystery, Confirms Methane Spike Tied to Oil and Gas — DESMOG
Over the past few years, natural gas has become the primary fuel that America uses to generate electricity, displacing the long-time king of fossil fuels, coal. In 2019, more than a third of America’s electrical supply will come from natural gas, with coal falling to a second-ranked 28 percent, the Energy Information Administration predicted this month, marking the growing ascendancy of gas in the American power market.
New NASA study shows fracking of natural gas and oil is key driver of climate change — News Release from NC WARN
A bombshell new study by NASA concludes that methane emissions from the oil and gas industry have grown rapidly and are a key driver of global warming. The findings support many earlier studies, and bolster the argument that a huge rise in super-potent methane emissions is linked to soaring global temperatures in recent years.
Reduced biomass burning emissions reconcile conflicting estimates of the post-2006 atmospheric methane budget — Nature Communications
Recent changes in the growth rate of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas, and important ozone precursor, could be due to changing anthropogenic emissions in the form of fossil fuel (FF) or agricultural emissions.
ACP owners confident — The Robesonian
The governmental approval process for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline continues at a pace that points to construction beginning in early 2018… The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval ruling of Oct. 13 … is being challenged by NC WARN, a Durham-based nonprofit that addresses “the climate crisis and other hazards posed by electricity generation.”
New York’s heralded fracking ban isn’t all it’s cracked up to be — Center For Public Integrity
In 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a bold statement by banning hydraulic fracturing in the Empire State, declaring alongside his health commissioner that “no child should live near” a shale-gas well because of its potential harm. The governor’s proclamation made him a hero among environmentalists and persona non grata in the oil and gas industry. Energy in Depth, an industry-funded website, criticized Cuomo for basing the moratorium on dubious science “to kowtow to Yoko Ono, Mark Ruffalo, and all of the environmental pressure groups in New York.”