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NOAA’s Air Sampling in Colorado Shows Methane Measurements that Disprove the Gas Industry’s “Cleaner Burning Fuel” Claim

While natural gas may be a cleaner fuel to burn, here’s more proof that it’s a particularly filthy fossil fuel to extract from the earth. A 2011 study by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research and covered in the international journal, Nature.

“Led by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado, Boulder, the study estimates that natural-gas producers in an area known as the Denver-Julesburg Basin are losing about 4% of their gas to the atmosphere – not including additional losses in the pipeline and distribution system.”

According to Joe Romm at Climate Progress this is “more than double industry claims.”

Methane [CH4] is far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 which can be 25 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Tags: Joe Romm, Methane Leakage, NOAA

This entry was posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Energy, Environment, shale gas pollution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.