The state has granted the final regulatory approval needed for pre-construction work on an interstate natural gas pipeline through Nash County, opponents appear to be digging in their heels and Republican lawmakers have made a move to capture a fund set up by builders to lessen the impact in Nash and the seven other counties in the pipeline’s route.
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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Citizens have power to speak up — Salisbury Post
We are senior residents of Salisbury and concerned citizens of this country. Many of us live on fixed incomes. We have been struggling to pay our high electricity bills. Some of us have even been affected or know people affected by the coal ash crisis in North Carolina. As a result of this, when Jim Warren of NC Warn came to speak to us about our energy needs, holding Duke Energy accountable for how they say they use our money, and about how the earth is affected by carbon emissions, we listened.
Cutting Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Production: One of the Year’s Biggest Energy Challenges — Rocky Mount Institute
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.
Take ‘Clean Path’ — News & Observer
Gas Pipeline Approval Abuses People and is a Climate and Economic Tragedy — News Release from NC WARN
The end of natural gas is near… — Medium
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline points the wrong way to energy’s future — News & Observer
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.