Political Quotes

“I am proud to join with the majority leader and with my colleagues from Maine and Massachusetts to lead this effort to restore responsible methane emission standards at the EPA. We can take commonsense action right now to slow climate change and simultaneously reduce the incredible waste of a valuable energy resource. Methane is the primary constituent in natural gas. It is an incredibly potent driver of the greenhouse effect. Over the short term, it is actually 86 times more powerful than CO<INF>2</INF> emissions. It is estimated that about a quarter of all the human-caused global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution can be attributed to methane emissions. In the United States, the lion's share of these human-caused methane emissions are from the production of oil and gas. That is due in part to outdated--oftentimes, even faulty--equipment and pipes that leak methane into the air, wellheads that leak methane. Many oil and gas operators also engage in a practice known as flaring, where operators ignite and burn off excess gas, and, worse yet, venting, where uncombusted natural gas is simply released into the air. Now, beyond the obvious consequences for climate change, these types of methane emissions waste incredibly valuable energy resources. Fugitive methane also harms public health by polluting the air that we breathe.…”