Key facts about the new EPA plan to reverse the Obama-era methane leaks rule

Its ultimate fate may be decided by the administration in office in 2021.

 

By Dana Nuccitelli

Monday, September 9, 2019

 

https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/09/key-facts-about-the-new-epa-plan-to-reverse-the-obama-era-methane-leaks-rule/

 

 

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, in 2013 estimated that the greenhouse effect from methane is 34 times stronger than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, and 86 times stronger over a 20-year period. Its potency decreases over time because methane is a relatively short-lived greenhouse gas, mostly breaking down under chemical reactions after about 12 years, whereas carbon dioxide persists in the atmosphere for centuries.”

 

Here, again, as with so many other reports, the author, whom I greatly respect, fails to point out that methane breaks down into CO2 and water.  That’s a double whammy.  So, methane breaks down “after about 20 years.”  Why not stress that it breaks down into the highly persistent CO2 and water vapor which are both greenhouse gasses?

 

As for methane leakage, see:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/methane-leaks-offset-much-of-the-benefits-of-natural-gas-new-study-says/2018/06/21/e381654a-7590-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html