A proposed gas pipe line from northern Lycoming County to Snyder County has been announced by UGI Energy Services. They have promoted the project by saying it may create hundreds of new jobs. While job creation may generally be considered a positive occurrence, we should consider all the possible consequences of any given construction project. I suspect most would not consider the creation of employment by organized crime a positive. A UGI Energy Service’s spokesman may think that the building of the Sunbury Pipeline is “good news for everyone,” but there are many who don’t consider it is good news.
There will be many who will be concerned for their safety with a large gas line near their homes. Just the other day there was a pipeline rupture and explosion in southwestern PA. Some of the residents in this area were evacuated from their homes for the second time in a year. How many people will think it is good news to learn a compressor station will be built near their home? Will those whose wells become polluted with increased fracking find this proposal to be good news? Will the hunter who finds his favorite area pockmarked with drilling pads celebrate the news? Will the mothers whose children become ill rejoice with the increased pollution from the fracking?
While everything about coal is dirty, natural gas creates its own set of problems. While it may burn cleaner than coal, it is anything but clean. Here is a summary of the pollutants that the proposed gas fired plant will produce: 2,950,000 tons of CO2, 320 tons CO, 182 tons NOx, 169 tons ammonia, 61 tons SO2, 47 tons sulfuric acid, 45 tons VOCs, 3.7 tons formaldehyde, 13 tons of other hazardous air pollutants. Don’t believe all those ads promoting “clean natural gas.”
Natural gas has been promoted as a “bridge fuel” to renewable energy to combat climate change. We don’t need this bridge because clean energy technology is already here. Prices for wind and solar energy have dropped drastically and have become price competitive in many areas. It is a great deal less expensive if you consider that we won’t have to pay for all the health related problems caused by our use of fossil fuels. The gas industry isn’t concerned about building plants for bridging any gaps. They want to be around for a long time.
Even on the issue of climate change we have found that using natural gas contributes to climate change as much or more than burning coal. Fugitive methane from production to delivery more than offsets any reduction of CO2 at combustion. In the first 20 years after release into the atmosphere, methane is one hundred times a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.
We must end the use of fossil fuels as rapidly as possible. A study from Stanford University says we could do that as early as 2030. Ignorance, denial, and political ideology do not alter the demonstrable facts of climate change and its human causation. We can now produce energy cleanly and create jobs in the process. Yes, there is a lot of work still to be done, but clean energy production is increasing around the world. Denmark already plans to be off fossil fuels by 2050. Germany is a world leader in solar. Clean energy is increasing in this country despite of the efforts of the fossil fuel industry and their subsidiary called the Republican Party. Distortion and half-truths are their major weapons backed with millions of dollars.
Let’s not forget that the cleanest energy is the energy we don’t need. Waste is a part of our culture which we can greatly reduce. Efficiency gains have reduced our electrical consumption and offer great potential for future energy reduction. Maybe you don’t worry about fracking because it is not in your backyard, but that is a false premise. The earth’s climate system is in everybody’s backyard. No one is exempt from the destruction we are consciously creating for corporate profit and our convenience.