Much has been written on the natural gas leak that occurred in late 2015 and into the first two months of 2016 from the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility near Los Angeles, California. SLB has articles on this.
This article puts the quantity of methane emitted into perspective. Rather than take the hysterical approach as many writers have done and will continue to do, it is important to view the amount of methane released in context of the total annual methane emissions world-wide. In short, it was a tiny blip on the radar. A tiny, almost inconsequential amount. Three units out of almost 7,000 units. On a percentage basis, that is 0.04 percent.
Published data on world-wide methane emissions, and their global-warming potential or CO2-equivalent (stated as CO2e), show that approximately 7,000 million metric tonnes CO2e are emitted from all sources, annually. see link For perspective, the Aliso Canyon
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| source: EPA Report 430-R-06-003 |
The world is not going to overheat overnight and we all wake up to temperatures like Death Valley, California on a hot August day.
As can be seen from the chart at right, and recognizing that 100 percent represents 7,000 million metric tonnes CO2e, the Aliso Canyon leak was 100 times smaller or less than the amount from Agriculture Manure.
Or, to put the situation in the same light as would nuclear proponents when a nuclear plant spews radiation across the landscape and into the atmosphere, the methane was diluted by natural air currents to a level so low as to be almost undetectable (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima Dai-Ichi at 3 reactors). The methane dissipated into the natural background.
Roger E. Sowell, Esq.
Marina del Rey, California
copyrignt © 2016 by Roger Sowell, all rights reserved
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