“These costs are not one-time, but are rather incurred year after year because of the permanent damage caused by increased climate change resulting from the delay,” the assessment warned.
That same day, President Obama announced moves to help reduce greenhouse gasses. But some critics charge that the President's actions have so far failed to be proportionate to the crisis the White House predicts.
As DeSmog reported, [last] Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency's program on natural gas pipeline leaks came under fire from the EPA's own internal watchdog. The EPA inspector general lambasted the agency for setting up rules that rely heavily on voluntary leak repairs by pipeline companies while turning a blind eye to state policies that allow those companies to simply pass the price of leaking gas to consumers instead of making costly repairs.
The resulting leaks, the EPA audit concluded, cost consumers over $192 million and the resulting greenhouse gasses each year were equal to putting an addition 2.7 million cars on the road.
On the heels of that report, the Obama administration announced that it would adjust its methane pollution controls — but the measures they announced fell far short of what some experts argue is necessary to curtail methane's climate hazards. The Department of Energy's new measures include adjustments to its voluntary leak control program and add funding for research into ways to better curb leaks.
“While we applaud the commitments made by DOE, labor unions, utility groups, and other stakeholders,” Earthworks Policy Director Lauren Pagel told the Oil and Gas Journal, “voluntary measures and new research initiatives don’t adequately protect communities and the climate.”
In recent years, methane leaks — especially those from the nation's ongoing shale drilling rush — have caught the attention of researchers because of the gas's powerful climate-changing effects, which are at their strongest over a decade or two.
Because methane traps an enormous amount of heat relatively soon after it is released into the atmosphere — 86 times as much as the same amount of carbon dioxide, according to the UN's panel of climate change experts — the harm that it does is much more immediate than other greenhouse gasses. And leaks from the natural gas industry are a major source of methane emissions in the U.S.
As Energy Department Announces Methane Measures, Critics Call for Stronger Action
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