Learning Sustainability

Energy Consumption remains one of the most fundamental issues facing human society. Hydraulic Fracturing  or "fracking" for the extraction of natural gas is a controversial technique in the Marcellus Shale Regions of the United States and elsewhere.  It is controversial because it involves the usage of millions of gallons of water that is laced with hundreds of chemical contaminants, most of which are secret ingredients that are considered proprietary by corporations and governments that are required to protect the public. The lack of transparency in the use and disposal of these materials has lead to community and environmental activism and to revelations of environmental and health abuses and catastrophes. This includes contaminated wells, aquifers, and illness amongst wildlife, livestock, and humans.

Feedback and Comments: lscampaign@aol.com

Click on the Icon Below to go to the GreenWatch Facebook Page

America's Natural Gas Alliance, an industry trade group has promoted claims for years that natural gas is a cleaner fuel, and is less likely to contribute to climate change than other fossil fuel energy strategies. As gas extraction strategies involving hydrofracking have been emerging, contradictions to those clean energy assertions have begun to emerge as well. For instance a reports recently issued by Cornell University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the EPA have cast doubts on the clean energy assertions. For instance, the EPA now claims that methane gas, a very dangerous greenhouse contributor is almost twice what the industry claims. These emissions come from gas field emissions, transportation and leaks throughout the extraction, manufacture, and distribution systems are seriously under reported. Combine that with the threats to water supplies by hydrofracking techniques and a host of other toxic releases including actual newly revealed details about tail pipe emissions tell a far different story than the industry wants to portray. The following are links to reports and papers analyzing the cleanness of natural gas.  

Huffington Post/Propublica- Abraham Lustgarten
Natural Gas Not as Clean as Previously Thought, New Research Suggests

NPR- Natural Gas May Not Be a "Clean" Energy Source

The Wilderness Society Natural Gas: Not as Clean As You Think
(Incudes impacts on habitat and wildlife)

LA Times "Clean Natural Gas, Not So Fast Study Says"

AlterNet "Why Natural Gas is not a Clean Energy Panacea"

Comparative Life-Cycle Air Emissions of Coal, Domestic Natural Gas, LNG, SNG, CMU

Cornell -Preliminary Assessment of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from natural Gas obtained by Hydraulic Fracturing