FRACKED: SHALE GAS: THE FILTHY FOSSIL FUEL

"Developing Natural Gas in the Marcellus
and other Shale Formations is likely to
Aggravate Global Warming"

Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro, and Tony Ingraffea

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

Cornell University

March 15, 2011

"Last week, three Cornell University researchers, Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro, and Tony Ingraffea, gave a seminar about natural gas development and its potential contribution to climate change. Overall, they found that the natural gas industry's carbon footprint plus methane footprint was greater than that of the coal and oil based industries, thus increasing the likelihood that global warming will exacerbated by further implementation of natural gas production. Their findings will be published in the upcoming April edition of Climatic Change Letters, as an addendum to the main journal, Climate Change."

"Natural gas has long been touted as a "cleaner" fuel than oil, simply because less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere upon burning. However, the principal component of natural gas is methane, which is a much more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. During natural gas production a small percentage of methane is released into the atmosphere, either intentionally through venting, or inadvertently through leaks in the pipeline. While methane does not last nearly as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, over the short term (20 years as opposed to 100 years), its global warming potential is estimated to be 72 times greater than that of carbon dioxide."

"The researchers looked at the overall life-cycle of natural gas production and compared methane emissions at each stage of production using industry reported data. They also compared emissions between shale gas production and conventional gas. They found that 3.6% to 7.9% of methane from shale-gas production escaped into the atmosphere during venting and leaks, almost two times greater than the emissions from conventional gas. These increased emissions in shale-gas production occured during the hydraulic fracturing of a well and during the drill out following fracturing. Their findings are in conjunction with a November 2010 Environmental Protection Agency report that found that emissions, particularly for shale gas, are larger than previously believed."

Climate Change 101 - HERE

"Turns out that drilling shale gas wells puts anywhere from 30 percent to twice as much carbon into the atmosphere as conventional gas wells."

"Carbon dioxide emissions are important, Howarth said, but methane is a more critical problem. Natural gas is 85 to 95 percent methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. No one has measured actual methane emissions from gas wells throughout the various stages, so the Cornell relied on data from the gas industry, the General Accountability Office and EPA."

"When you tally up all the numbers from drilling to production to transport, something like 3.6 to 7.9 percent of the gas from a shale well disappears into the atmosphere over the lifetime of the well. That amount is 30 percent to two times greater than the amount lost during conventional gas production and development."

The Marcellus Effect - HERE

"We are not advocating for more coal or oil, but rather to move to a truly green, renewable future as quickly as possible."

Seminar Powerpoint - HERE

"We urge caution in viewing natural gas as good fuel choice for the future. Note that both the National Academy of Sciences and the Council of Scientific Society Presidents have urged great caution before proceeding with the development of diffuse natural gas from shale formations using unconventional technology."

Robert Howarth Paper - HERE

The Evidence is Overwhelming
The Evidence is Indisputable

Combined with the recent findings of many other trusted scientists such as Conrad Volz of CHEC and Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting:
The Filthy Lie Stands Exposed

Natural Gas is...
NOT CLEAN
NOT CLEANER

NOT a Safe Transition or Bridge Fuel

The Most DANGEROUS of Fossil Fuels

THE WORST OF ALL CHOICES

The Oiligarchs and their sycophant gas-holes
will continue to Deny the Truth
and sacrifice us all on their Altar of Greed.