Amy Martyn reports that nearly 200 countries signed a historic agreement to combat climate change last Saturday during the global climate summit in Paris. To achieve that goal would mean a massive slow-down of carbon emissions, climate scientists warn, an effective de-carbonization of the world economy. But it is not just carbon consumption that scientists warn needs to drop dramatically. In Paris and elsewhere, another important gas has been largely ignored: methane.
While methane has many industrial sources, lately its biggest source has been fracking. Plumes of methane are released when faulty cement well liners and steel casings allow the gas to seep to the surface, tainting water supplies at the surface. Methane is the latest risk associated with fracking, especially here in North Texas Barnett Shale. Last week, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal released a study claiming that methane emissions in the Barnett Shale are 90% higher than what the EPA figures suggest. The study, financed by the Environmental Defense Fund, a commercial adversary of oil and gas company operations reviewed 12 published research papers that calculate local methane emissions.
The study zeroes in on Texas Barnett Shale and uses a new, more accurate way to determine the total amount of methane escaping into the atmosphere from the region oil and gas production, processing and transportation.. The new methods included using aircraft with methane sensors to provide top-down readings of methane over wide areas. Environmentalists (aka adversaries) have accused the oil industry of downplaying the amount of methane that leaks from the fracking process. Environmentalists, scientists and homeowners say that the most obvious sign of a methane leak is the flammable water that has been documented coming out of some homeowners faucets. But the more grave, existential threat is how potently methane warms the planet.
Original working URL: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/epa-promises-to-monitor-methane-after-bombshell-fracking-report-7842168
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