More evidence that natural gas drilling is a significant contributor to climate change
Pennsylvania’s natural gas wells are leaking up to 1,000 times more methane than EPA estimates
LINDSAY ABRAMS, Salon
Fracking sites at Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale are releasing way more methane than we thought — somewhere on the order of 100 to 1,000 times EPA estimates, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. Flying about seven well pads in a plane equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions, researchers found that, on average, the sites emitted 34 grams of methane per second. The EPA’s estimate: between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second.
The problem, the researchers were surprised to discover, begins before the controversial process of fracking even gets started. Tracing the methane leaks back to the source, they “determined that the wells leaking the most methane were in the drilling phase, a period that has not been known for high emissions,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Experts had thought that methane was more likely to be released during subsequent phases of production, including hydraulic fracturing, well completion or transport through pipelines.”
While natural gas is generally trumpeted as a “greener” alternative to traditional fossil fuels, methane — its principle component — is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, capable of trapping 20-30 times more heat in the atmosphere. A 2012 study found that if only a little more than 3 percent of natural gas leaks into the atmosphere, we’d be better off, climate-wise, with a coal-fired power plant for our electricity generation.
(Continued here.)
LINDSAY ABRAMS, Salon
Fracking sites at Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale are releasing way more methane than we thought — somewhere on the order of 100 to 1,000 times EPA estimates, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. Flying about seven well pads in a plane equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions, researchers found that, on average, the sites emitted 34 grams of methane per second. The EPA’s estimate: between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second.
The problem, the researchers were surprised to discover, begins before the controversial process of fracking even gets started. Tracing the methane leaks back to the source, they “determined that the wells leaking the most methane were in the drilling phase, a period that has not been known for high emissions,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Experts had thought that methane was more likely to be released during subsequent phases of production, including hydraulic fracturing, well completion or transport through pipelines.”
While natural gas is generally trumpeted as a “greener” alternative to traditional fossil fuels, methane — its principle component — is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, capable of trapping 20-30 times more heat in the atmosphere. A 2012 study found that if only a little more than 3 percent of natural gas leaks into the atmosphere, we’d be better off, climate-wise, with a coal-fired power plant for our electricity generation.
(Continued here.)
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