Posted on 09/19/2013 11:58:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
One of the central tenets of anti-shale gas activists—claims that carbon pollution from methane leaked during the hydraulic fracturing extraction process makes natural gas more polluting than coal—took another, likely fatal, hit this week.
A University of Texas-Austin study released Monday found that methane emissions from new wells being prepared for production, a process known as completion, captured 99% of the escaping methane—on average 97% lower than estimates released in 2011 by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is the most comprehensive shale gas emissions study ever undertaken on methane leakage, covering 190 well pads around the United States. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, so leaks could theoretically wipe out the documented climate benefits with respect to reduced carbon emissions of natural gas, a comparatively clean fossil fuel.
Energy experts and environmentalists celebrated the finding that almost all the escaping methane could be captured by state of the art equipment. “Can we control it? Thanks to new EPA regulations coming online, the answer to that is good news,” Eric Pooley, a senior vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund, told the New York Times.
“We were surprised at that finding, yes,” I was told by Steven Hamburg, chief scientist for the EDF , who coordinated the study, one of 16 studies EDF is overseeing and expects to be released over the next 15 months.
The findings were immediately criticized—trashed is a more accurate word—by Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea, two Cornell University scientists.....
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
A decade ago...environmentalists were so happy. They’d circled the wagons around drilling for oil off the coast of any state, then limited any oil production out of Alaska...they had done the impossible.
Then comes along fracking....of old wells that had already been drilled and accepted in all of the states. Then they discovered all of the shale oil in previously unknown areas like Alabama or Mississippi.
The environmentalists? They now count on Saudi oil money to prep-up and support their funding operation. If it wasn’t for Saudi money....most would be desperate at this point. The odd thing? We are supporting the Saudis by buying their oil, then they dump the cash back onto environmentalists...to wage wage in courts and public opinion. It gets to a point where a regular guy can laugh at the ‘game’ being played out.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled University Of Texas-Shale Gas Study Unmasks Politics Of Anti-Fracking Activist Cornell Scientists, pepsionice wrote:
A decade ago...environmentalists were so happy. They’d circled the wagons around drilling for oil off the coast of any state, then limited any oil production out of Alaska...they had done the impossible.
Then comes along fracking....of old wells that had already been drilled and accepted in all of the states. Then they discovered all of the shale oil in previously unknown areas like Alabama or Mississippi.
The environmentalists? They now count on Saudi oil money to prep-up and support their funding operation. If it wasn’t for Saudi money....most would be desperate at this point. The odd thing? We are supporting the Saudis by buying their oil, then they dump the cash back onto environmentalists...to wage wage in courts and public opinion. It gets to a point where a regular guy can laugh at the ‘game’ being played out.
You forgot to add “also into Demo-Com campaign coffers”
Robert Howarth
The David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology
Education:
B.A. 1974, Amherst College
Ph.D. 1979, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Anthony Ingraffea
Education:
BS(Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering),University of Notre Dame,1969
MS(Civil Engineering),Polytechnic University,1971
Ph D(Civil Engineering),University of Colorado,1977
Reading their online Cornell bios its tough to determine their bonifides to comment on findings. Prof Igraffes has been identified as antifracking before expressing concern with ground water pollutin
Oh Wow. thanks to the EPA issuing a regulation less methane is escaping. Nothing to do with the companies doing the drilling !
bm
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