Reactions to Duke Energy’s $4.9 billion takeover of Piedmont Natural Gas are skewing mostly to wait-and-see at this point. But at least one Duke watcher has some concerns.
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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Open Letter to Duke Energy CEO, Lynn Good, on Proposed Asheville Gas Plant — NC WARN and Climate Voices US
It is patently dishonest for Duke Energy to imply it is helping slow climate change while pretending that the impacts of methane leakage somehow can be ignored – especially when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now warns that methane is 86 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Your people surely know this. Why do you allow Duke officials to keep distorting this critical issue that defeats the notion of natural gas as a “bridge fuel”?
Duke Energy turns to natural gas in place of coal — News & Record
Duke’s shift toward gas began in earnest about seven years ago, triggering the closure of coal-fired plants in Eden and six other North Carolina communities, replacing them with five plants that use gas as their primary fuel. Clean-energy advocate Jim Warren believes Duke is reaping a public relations bonanza by shifting from a bad fossil fuel to another that’s only a bit less problematic.
NC WARN’s Comments on Proposed Rules on Fracking
The NC Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NC WARN), offers the attached comments on various fracking rules. Our members are deeply concerned that the fracking process leads to additional hydrocarbons, and in particular methane, being released into the atmosphere, leading to more severe climate change.
SC regulators approve Duke Energy’s 750MW Lee gas plant — Charlotte Business Journal
The S.C. Public Service Commission has unanimously approved Duke Energy’s proposed $700 million W.S. Lee combined cycle natural gas plant.
NC WARN Contests Duke Energy’s Fracking-Gas Plant Proposal — News Release from NC WARN
The proposed 750-megawatt fracking gas-burning plant near Anderson, SC would likely cost over $1 billion, so the NC regulators must scrutinize the cost and need now, not later in a rate case after the plant is built.
Natural gas fuels Duke Energy’s 15-year plan — Charlotte Business Journal
Duke Energy Corp. customers in the Carolinas looking for relief from rate hikes are likely to be disappointed over the next several years. That is particularly true for customers at Duke Energy Progress, which forecasts the need for as many as five new natural gas plants between now and 2022.
Fracking: Gangplank to Climate Chaos
Read our October 2013 fact sheet on fracking.
Gangplank to a Warm Future — The New York Times
Op-Ed by Anthony Ingraffea. Many concerned about climate change, including President Obama, have embraced hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. In his recent climate speech, the president went so far as to lump gas with renewables as “clean energy.” As a longtime oil and gas engineer who helped develop shale fracking techniques for the Energy Department, I can assure you that this gas is not “clean.” Because of leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas, the gas extracted from shale deposits is not a “bridge” to a renewable energy future — it’s a gangplank to more warming and away from clean energy investments.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: More evidence of methane releases – Associated Press
August 31, 2009 Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north By CHARLES J. HANLEY (AP) MACKENZIE RIVER DELTA, Northwest Territories — Only a squawk from a sandhill crane broke the Arctic silence — and a low gurgle of bubbles, a watery whisper of trouble repeated in countless spots …