Natural Gas

As the Maryland General Assembly debates whether to impose a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas, a new study adds fuel to an already explosive debate over the climate impact of "fracking." Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that between 4 percent and 9 percent of natural gas can leak into the atmosphere during extraction. These leaks could reduce or eliminate the fuel's advantage over coal as a "clean" fuel, from a climate perspective.

Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas has revolutionized America's energy supply, with the U.S. now looking to export liquid natural gas at terminals such as the Dominion Cove Point pier in Southern Maryland, which was built to import gas from foreign countries.  But some environmentalists and manufacturers oppose exporting natural gas, because it could encourage even more "fracking" (which can cause air and water pollution) and drive up what are currently very low prices for natural gas in the U.S.

Offshore wind farm.  iStockphoto.

A hotly debated study by Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth concludes that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is as bad as coal mining--and perhaps worse--from a global warming perspective. Howarth says vast amounts of methane--a potent greenhouse gas--escapes during gas drilling and transportation, and this means that natural gas is not a clean, green bridge fuel to a low-carbon future. The industry strongly disagrees.

 Day three of Midday's special series Power Ahead focuses on energy. During the first hour we look at natural gas with Steve A. Gabriel, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Michel Boufadel, professor of civil and envrionmental engineering, Temple University, David Hughes, Post Carbon Institute Fellow and Amir Arif, Stifel Nicolaus