Letter to the editor
Amidst all the concern about Hurricane Florence (whose strength, scientists tell us, is fueled by climate change), today’s N&O contains an article entitled “White House to ease rules about methane” (Sept. 12). The article points out that the Trump administration is preparing to make it much easier for energy companies to release methane into the atmosphere.
Most people are aware that carbon dioxide contributes to the greenhouse gas effect that is disrupting our climate. However, methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide . Methane leakage from power plants and pipelines needs to be reined in, not facilitated.
On the next page of the paper, another article, “Tillis now says that man is contributing to warming” (Sept. 12), notes that our own Senator Thom Tillis now recognizes that humans contribute to climate change.
I hope that the senator will be willing to show that his newfound concern is more than concern for the upcoming election and that he will work to convince the administration that preventing methane release is a better strategy for the future of humankind than creating policies that cater to the fossil fuel industry.
Helen Wolfson
Durham
Read on the N&O website (click and scroll down)