![]() While flying, researchers followed those plumes of methane back to individual well pads, where they circled the pads to verify that those were the methane sources. On two days of airplane flights over the area, the research team detected high concentrations of methane in the atmosphere. "Basically what we observed was very high concentrations in a particular region," said Paul Shepson, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at Purdue University and an author of the study. The researchers detected a "significant regional flux" of methane, a greenhouse gas with about 30 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, coming from an area of gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania. The paper, published yesterday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the result of measurements of methane made by flying an airplane over parts of the Marcellus Shale. We stand ready to protect the entirety of Pennsylvania from an industry that consistently puts profits ahead of people, communities, the environment, and our natural resources.A new study has found that a small number of gas wells are releasing significant quantities of methane into the air even before they are hydraulically fractured, or fracked. We stand ready to challenge any prospective petrochemical plants across Pennsylvania, and we are actively engaged with partners within the Delaware River basin to protect this vital source of drinking water from fracking’s harms. In Harrisburg, our team is an ever-constant presence that raises the alarm bells and organizes resistance against new bills or regulations that cater to industry at the expense of our environment. In Pittsburgh, our staff routinely engage in legal and policy affairs, challenging the industry in court and challenging the fracked gas industry’s false narratives in the media and elsewhere. False promises at a high costįrom the shale fields of southwestern Pennsylvania to the potential petrochemical plants in northeastern Pennsylvania, and everywhere in between, PennFuture is pushing back against the industry. Pennsylvania has no chance of doing its part in this fight if we continue to tie our economic development strategies to fracking, cracker plants and dirty fossil fuels. The science is clear: to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to drastically and immediately cut our carbon footprint. From drilling and fracking to pipelines and plastics factories, we are opposed to projects that further cement our addiction to fossil fuels while simultaneously exploiting and destroying our natural resources. One of PennFuture's core goals is to stop the so-called petrochemical buildout from coming to fruition in Pennsylvania. Yet the environmental damage will remain for years - paid for by society at large, long after these companies leave Pennsylvania. Windfall profits are short-lived and privatized. Markets are oversaturated with fracked gas and petrochemicals, threatening the long-term viability of unconventional gas wells and potential cracker plants. The fracked gas industry promised that Marcellus shale gas would bring economic revitalization and prosperity while maintaining an industry-wide commitment to stringent environmental protections.Īfter a few boom years, demand is no longer keeping pace with supply.
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