This Halloween, I was looking to come up with something super scary that would educate and frighten at the same time.
Methane, CH4
FUGITIVE METHANE fits the bill.
Methane, CH4, is a gas at room temperature. It is colorless, odorless, extremely flammable and can be explosive too. How could a simple molecule be so scary? Let me explain.
Fugitive methane is methane that leaks, mostly as a result of industrial activity.
Methane is not easy to capture making leaks hard to detect without scientific instruments. Fugitive methane escapes from aging gas pipelines. More than 3,000 gas leaks have been discovered in pipes in Boston
Earlier this year, a building in Harlem blew up because of a gas pipeline leak.
San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, 2010
Gas pipeline explosions are not uncommon. In 2010, California’s San Bruno gas pipeline killed 8 and incinerated 35 homes, it had a wall of fire that was 1,000 feet high and burned for hours. Natural gas pipelines have more incidents that result in death or hospitalization than other kinds of pipelines, according to the Pipeline Safety Trust.
Here is where it gets even more scary.
Methane is a greenhouse gas, much more potent than CO2 (carbon dioxide). Methane traps heat 86 times better than CO2 does, it is a huge factor in climate change.
It turns out that Fugitive Methane is a huge, huge issue when it comes to natural gas hydro-fracking. Methane is leaking from fracking well heads across the country at the rate of 9-11%. Considering methane stays in the atmosphere longer than CO2 and traps heat better than CO2, putting more methane into our atmosphere is really bad news.
Obama thinks natural gas is OK. This is scary.
Natural gas has been promoted as a “clean” bridge fuel to the future. Their marketing budget is huge, you may have seen commercials for it on TV. Of course the climate denying Republican types have given it the green light, but what is really disturbing is the embrace of natural gas by those in the Democratic party, who understand that climate change is a huge threat to our lives.
The reality is that the natural gas fracking boom, along with aging natural gas pipelines and other natural gas infrastructure is accelerating our climate crisis, bringing our biosphere closer to a point of no return. Natural gas is as bad as coal when it comes to clean air, water and a liveable climate. All fossil fuels need to be stopped ASAP.
How do we get our leaders to see the huge mistake they are making? I’ll be blogging about this very topic for much of the month of November. Prepare to get educated on #Methane and other fine points that our future depends on!
Cloud of methane, the size of Delaware, in red.
NASA recently discovered that there is in fact a 2,500-square-mile cloud of methane—roughly the size of Delaware—floating over the Four Corners region, where the borders of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all intersect. The NASA researchers state, “the source is likely from established gas, coal, and coalbed methane mining and processing.”
We can expect fugitive methane clouds like this to get bigger as the gas fracking boom continues.
Fugitive methane sneaks into aquifers and water supplies when hydrofracking is nearby. Water that is flammable is simply not safe to drink!
Fugitive methane can cause water to catch on fire!
What can you do to help fight fugitive methane? Here’s a 3 point plan:
#1 If you haven’t yet watched Gasland or Gasland2, click here
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
#2 Check out Food and Water Watch and learn more about fracking or pipeline issues in your area.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/
#3 If you’re in NY, join Food Not Fracking. Learn about the 40+ gas infrastructure projects planned for our state.
