PA. Tried to Suppress Consideration of Study About Gas Well Air Pollution/Climate Impacts

[JPZenger]

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/59070-pa-dep-attempted-to-suppress-controversial-study-that-criticized-shale-gas?Itemid=3

This story from PA. public radio was reported on NPR nationwide this morning. An emphasis on natural gas is being sold to the public as a way to reduce global climate change effects, because it is supposed to be cleaner than coal. However once you consider methane and the gases released by the natural gas industry, natural gas may actually be worse for climate change than coal.

Excerpts:

"A state report outlining how climate change will impact Pennsylvania is currently a year and a half late – and there’s still no indication of when it will be released publicly.... StateImpact Pennsylvania has obtained a copy of the original draft climate report and internal DEP emails, which reveal an attempt by its Policy Office to suppress controversial research that questions the benefits of natural gas.

The DEP’s Policy Office wanted a team of Penn State scientists who authored the climate report to remove all references to a 2011 study from Cornell University. The peer reviewed paper, by professor Robert Howarth, has been the subject of intense debate. It concludes that from a climate change perspective, natural gas is dirtier than coal.

Although natural gas is much cleaner-burning than coal when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions, methane can leak throughout the gas production process. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and it’s 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas (although it remains in the atmosphere for a much shorter time period). Howarth believes this methane leakage negates any climate change benefits derived from burning natural gas."