What most Americans do not know (and those who do know routinely ignore this) is that currently, improving technologies and practices are already reducing emissions of all pollutants, even methane. Methane emissions from energy have declined 30% since 1990, despite a 43% increase in U.S. energy production over that time. . . .
By Jason Isaac, Real Clear Energy: "Last Thursday, the EPA announced the adoption of new environmental standards that will reduce overburdensome regulations on methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations. While the climate alarmists will scream that the end is near, the EPA estimates the new regulations will increase methane emissions by only a few percent over the next 5 years. And it represents an important shift in the EPA’s stance on whether it should regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) other than carbon dioxide (CO2).
"Methane, commonly called natural gas, is a greenhouse gas naturally produced in wetlands and in animal digestion processes. Natural gas is also the source of a third of America’s energy and is sometimes emitted in small quantities as it is produced and consumed.
"While environmental groups deride methane as a “super pollutant” because it traps 25 times as much heat as CO2, its climate impact is inconsequential. It is 200 times more dilute in the atmosphere as CO2 and is emitted at 1/200th the rate of CO2. Even if the U.S. eliminated all its methane emissions by 2050, climate models estimate that the effect on average global temperature by 2100 would be 0.03°C. This change is nearly one-fifth the size of the error range of global temperature measurements—and irrelevant within the context of expected temperature rises of 1°C or greater." . . .
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