Also available from British Columbia Tapwater Alliance (bctwa.org) and the Gas Drilling Alliance for Cortland County (gdacc.org)
Those are the “error bounds” of shale gas impacts on greenhouse effect and global warming described by an independent environmental scientist from Cornell we met in Binghamton NY. Even at the lower parameters, this is not good news.
Dr. Robert Howarth
On 9-15-10, attending the EPA meeting on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, professor of ecology and environmental biology, independent scientist Robert Howarth, Ph.D., told a news conference that natural gas extracted from shale is nearly as dirty as coal or perhaps even dirtier in terms of greenhouse gas footprint. This is because methane (which makes up most of natural gas) is far more potent than CO2 in worsening the greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change. Methane leaks into the atmosphere, per Prof. Howarth and other science estimates, make up between 1.5% to as much as 4% of all natural gas consumed…
…My [goodgrief] public comment to EPA was, in part, as follows:
Based on what we know so far, the EPA should order immediate suspension of high-volume hydrofracking until your study is complete. Let science guide policy. Otherwise we’re conducting a massive human, animal and earth experiment. The gas will be there; it’s not going away. Ideally any further carbon extraction at all should be banned while we accelerate development of sustainables but since that’s probably not in the cards politically, it’s imperative we at least do everything we can to reduce the harm we are doing to ourselves and our environment by extending our carbon binge in shale gas extraction. As others have mentioned, I especially urge you to incorporate into your study the research of Prof. Robert Howarth and his team at Cornell on the methane greenhouse footprint that makes shale gas look nearly as dirty as coal if not even worse.
