We must confront something much worse than fracking pollution: Methane leaks throughout the entire process of oil and gas development.
This is an urgent problem — especially as we are increasingly turning to natural gas for power, to avoid carbon-emitting coal.
Thankfully, President Obama will go to Paris with a plan for cutting U.S. carbon emissions. But that is not enough. The United States — and the entire international community — should be armed with a complete climate plan that includes cutting methane emissions.
Methane is far faster, and far more dangerous, in the short term, than carbon, in disrupting our climate, and warming our world. It is a super-contributor to smog — it creates dirty air around the country—and when methane leaks, it carries other many dangerous pollutants too.
Getting methane emissions under control is not about “enabling” the fossil fuel industry. It is about living with reality. We are all in this together.
We are consuming more natural gas than ever—and that’s why we aren’t burning coal. Some states may have banned fracking (looking at you, New York)—but we are all still huge consumers of gas (again, looking at you, New York, fourth-largest consumer of gas in the country). All of us, turning on the lights, turning on our computers, even turning on our electric cars—all of us have a huge responsibility to demand that methane pollution be stopped.
Pope Francis’ words still resonate: We must care for our common home.
Image: NASA