A study out of Cornell has found that the fracking boom in the US and Canada is the chief culprit in the large spike in atmospheric methane levels.
Professor Robert Howarth examined hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, over the past several decades, noting the fracking boom that has taken place since the first years of the 21st century. Between 2005 and 2015, fracking went from producing 31 billion cubic meters of shale gas per year to producing 435 billion cubic meters.
Nearly 90 percent of that fracking took place in the U.S., while about 10 percent was done in Canada.
...In addition to being the second-biggest contributor to the climate crisis after carbon dioxide, methane has been known to cause and exacerbate health issues for people who live in areas where large amounts of the gas is present in the environment.
Chest pains, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma can all be caused or worsened by high levels of methane. The process of fracking has also been linked to pollution in drinking water.Of course these are treated as "fugitive emissions" and therefore kept off Canada's emissions books. The Trudeau government is a big fan of LNG. So too is our NDP government.
3 comments:
The Brits banned fracking!!
Just before an election and with a Conservative government!
If the
Con's win the ban will be short lived.
TB
BTW, we are entering a world of climate change deniers and those that believe it is happening.
Climate change is at the root of everyday politics.
TB
climate change is just going to keep on going. Not only do we hve the oil and gas industry to blame, we have china and their uncontrolled manufacturing and India's burning of their fields along with all their pollution.
Corporations only care about the next quarter. Politicians only care about the next election and most workers only care about the next pay cheque. All of it will come to a stunning halt one day. Australia is burning, once again. California is in burning season and by Feb. B.C. and Washington will want their fire fighters inplace for the coming summer fires. Its costing a bomb.
Businesses manufacture because we keep buying. We're about to begin the biggest shopping season of the year. So much for climate change, pollution, etc.
Gas drilling in BC is so great they get a special credit to reduce their royalties to Govt:
https://vancouversun.com/business/energy/natural-gas-drilling-credits-eat-up-royalty-revenue-from-extraction-industry-report
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