Slashdot Mirror
One US Oil Field a Key Culprit In Global Ethane Gas Increase
An anonymous reader writes: According to scientists, a single U.S. shale oil field is responsible for much of the past decade's increase in global atmospheric levels of ethane, a gas that can damage air quality and impact climate. The Bakken Formation, an oil and gas field in North Dakota and Montana is spewing nearly 2% of the globe's ethane. That translates to about 250,000 tons each year. "Two percent might not sound like a lot, but the emissions we observed in this single region are 10 to 100 times larger than reported in inventories. They directly impact air quality across North America. And they're sufficient to explain much of the global shift in ethane concentrations," said Eric Kort, U-M assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering.The Washington Post has more details (paywalled; alternatively you can read this Gizmodo report)
who make it 10,000% harder to lay the pipelines required to collect and harvest the gas. This resulted in the producers taking the option to flare the gas off. It's a valuable product, but harvest made uneconomical by stupid lawmakers.
...but 100 parts per billion is pretty much business as usual in the big Californian cities.
And 50 ppb is what the best-ranked ones produce.
Before you complain about the chemical being ethane, note that ethane + air + sunlight = ozone.
Fascinating, I've apparently missed all of the climate scientists going around picketing funerals
They didn't do that. Why would they?
They wouldn't. I was pointing out that it was a stupid comparison.
sending out private investigators to stalk and blackmail their opponents.
Yes, you did miss it. Maybe because it wasn't actual climate scientists, but the church's parishioners that claim to speak for them.
Probably not a road you want to go down considering the continuous witch hunts and slanderous accusations thrown at climate scientists.
I stole this Sig