For long periods the residents living near a pile of pet coke piled up in Detroit have complained about soot invading homes. Take a look at the video in this stunning video to see what they breathe.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/01/2392481/kochs-coke-cloud/.
The Pet Coke from this pile is also being combusted to make electricity at a power plant in Canada. Soot from the burning of mostly coal and diesel causes 34,000 premature deaths per year just in the USA and 2 million around the world.
Natural gas has impacts on the environment, but it emits no soot when combusted and saves lives when it displaces coal and diesel or pet coke. Coming to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of our energy choices is an uncomfortable exercise.
have you viewed any of the footage of emissions spewing from compressor stations? Multiply it by hundreds of compressor stations and you will have a very significant source of air pollution in areas that were once pristine and were producers of our food. Add the thousands of truck trips required to transport hazardous waste or "fresh" water to the mix....leaking pipes and well sites...natural gas is still a fossil fuel and as the extraction etc. sites expand across our state it too will spread its air pollution.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. That is why my drilling regulation and enforcement plan requires the installation of the best pollution controls that will cut emissions by 90% if they insist using diesel to run them.
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