Earlier this week, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin released a “groundbreaking” study (available here), further determining that tightly-regulated shale gas production is a “good thing for the planet as well as the economy.” This comprehensive, peer-reviewed and scientifically-based analysis is just the latest example clearly proving that clean-burning, domestically produced natural gas is protecting and enhancing our environment all while Powering an American Renaissance.

Newspaper editorial boards from coast to coast are touting these fact-based findings. Here’s what they’re saying:

  • Safe Natural Gas Production a “Good Thing for the Planet as well as the Economy”: Researchers closely analyzed 190 natural gas wells across the country and determined that even less raw fuel is leaking into the atmosphere than previously believed. Which confirms that the nationwide boom in gas drilling — which, thanks to a Cuomo-prolonged moratorium, is currently bypassing job-starved upstate New York — is a good thing for the planet as well as the economy. … Based on the most careful measurements taken to date, researchers found that just 0.42% of the extracted gas was being lost, compared to earlier estimates of 0.47%. The scientific case for allowing well-regulated fracking to go forward in upstate New York has grown with each of the 63 months that state officials have been dithering. The only question is whether Cuomo will let science be his guide. (New York Daily News editorial, 9/18/13)
  • “We all can Benefit from an Abundant, Efficient and Domestic Source of Energy”: The natural gas industry received more good news this week in a published study that found drilling for natural gas does not emit as much methane into the atmosphere as originally estimated. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, undercuts a major environmental argument against fracking. The study found that during the process of extracting natural gas from the ground, total leakage at the study sites was 0.42 percent – less than one half of one percent – of all produced gas, somewhat less than the U.S. EPA had estimated to be the national average. … The study should give the industry confidence, and its critics need to realize that expanded use of natural gas is a benefit to the nation as it helps reduce emissions as well as reducing our nation’s reliance on imported sources of energy. … We all can benefit from an abundant, efficient and domestic source of energy that creates jobs at home. (Charleston Daily Mail editorial, 9/18/13)
  • Study “Counters Fears” and Provides “Powerful New Defense” of Natural Gas Safety: A single study — no matter how scientific, thorough and rigorous — probably wouldn’t silence all critics, but the natural gas industry has a powerful new defense against those who warn about the dangers of methane emissions at well sites. A study from the University of Texas at Austin, done in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund and published last week in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, says methane emissions during the crucial period of well completions are a tiny fraction of earlier estimates. … The study found that so-called “green completion” equipment and procedures reduce methane emissions by 99 percent. … Total completion emissions are 97 percent lower than estimates released by the EPA in April. … Overall, that’s powerful good news for the natural gas industry. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial, 9/18/13)
  • Safety of Hydraulic Fracturing, Shale Development “Confirmed” Again: A new study shows that little methane…is released into the atmosphere during hydraulic fracturing. … Now comes a study, conducted by scientists at the University of Texas and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — and co-financed by one of the highest-profile environmentalists in the country — that shows much smaller amounts of methane emissions associated with fracking, far less than environmentalists and the EPA have contended. … The study, billed as the first to measure the actual emissions of methane from natural gas wells, finds these emissions were, in some cases, only about 2% of the most recent national estimate by the EPA in 2011. “For those wells with methane capture or control, 99% of the potential emissions were captured or controlled,” the study notes. (Investor’s Business Daily editorial, 9/18/13)

For more fact-based information about responsible, job-creating shale development and use of green technologies, please visit LearnAboutShale.org. And please follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!