As we tackle the emotional issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means of producing natural gas, we need better data to assess one of the procedure’s big unknowns. Just how much gas leaks into the atmosphere?
The largest source of methane in our atmosphere is tied to microbial activity in wetlands. In recent years, we’ve doubled these emissions by building reservoirs, including those for hydropower.
Methane also leaks into the atmosphere from geologic sources. By some accounts, leakage from rocks contributes some 15% of the total natural emission of methane to our atmosphere. Natural gas exploration is poised to double methane loss from geologic leakage, largely through emissions at the well-head, along major pipelines, and in local utility hook-ups.
Methane is a precursor of air pollutants that are a serious hazard to human health—such as ozone. But, methane and other organic gases—known as volatile organic carbon compounds or VOCs—are also emitted from vegetation. Unfortunately, we know little about how the local emissions of methane from gas wells might compare to the emissions from vegetation.
Answers to all these questions demand that we spend some money on research and that the work is done without bias or even the suspicion of bias as a result of its sponsor. That’s the role of academic research, and it is needed now, more than ever, on the fracking issue in New York State and across the country.
Photo, taken on August 7, 2011, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.