Dr. Anthony Ingraffea on The Center for Sustainable Shale Development
- Please forward widely and help make this the urgent issue it is.
Dr. Anthony Ingraffea confirms that the new "Center for Sustainable
Shale Development/CSSD" is a masterful pr move on the part of EDF,
Fred Krupp. We should merely ignore it, that the so-called 15
standards amount to a hill of beans. Fortunately, Sierra came right
out with a criticism of it nationally. Unfortunately, now that
Teresa Heinz Kerry's husband is Secretary of State (poised for
possible approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline), her former position
against fracking might have changed and Heinz Endowments is one of
the environmental funders of CSSD.
But worse, EDF has been positioning itself since April 2011 to
undermine the science of Cornell University's Robert Howarth, Renee
Santoro, and Anthony Ingraffea peer-reviewed study that predicts that
methane is the dirtiest fossil fuel, worse than coal. Ingraffea met
with Fred Krupp and Mark Brownstein a year ago but Krupp and EDF are
on a mission to completely discredit their findings and a full blown
national campaign to do so will launch on April 26. We need to be
ready to counter their campaign with a national one of our own.
EDF has been trying to kill coal, good, and elevate methane to a
national hero level as a bridge fuel, bad. You've perhaps been
seeing the national press report EDF's repeated references to their
3.2% figure of intentional and fugitive methane emissions on the
atmosphere, that anything less than that is acceptable and the
industry's aim of reducing it soon to 1%. An exact figure is never
possible, only a range is scientifically appropriate, and the present
range of actual measured methane releases to the atmosphere are
starting to indicate that the entire life-cycle rate to be higher
than 3.2%, e.g. the peer-reviewed work of NOAA/U of
Colorado. Reducing any emission rate would require enormous capital
investment to repair leak sources, and require years to complete, for
a methane supply of only a few decades at most, when we are running
short on years to avert even more serious climate change impacts.
EDF stated a year ago that Howarth, Santoro, Ingraffea predictions
are wrong and is conducting their own life cycle study of all methane
emissions. However, a one year study is not a long-term,
comprehensive study as it claims to be. Ingraffea asked for Cornell
to be on the team but was refused. Another EDF ploy is to co-opt the
funding sources of some of the shale gas opposition
groups. University of Texas, Duke, Boston U are participating on
the EDF study with Bloomberg funding it with $6 million...as EDF does
not accept money from industry. David Allen, University of Texas, is
heading the study which includes 9 major industry
players http://www.edf.org/
to present the EDF study's finding at none other than Cornell
University on April 26: how's that for "in your face?"
EDF had counted on the support of NRDC and Sierra but the
Chesapeake/Sierra scandal dissuaded Sierra's support and NRDC
unconscionably remains on the fence. We need NRDC to be castigating
EDF and Heinz, vociferously. Everything needs to be done to persuade
Frances Beinecke to protect our interests and the environment. Their
refusal to do so cannot continue.
You've noticed that The New York Times has silenced Ian Urbina on his
Drilling Down series about methane. And its environmental editor
with whom Ingraffea met to challenge that NYT is not "down the
middle" stated his prime source of information on the issue is Fred Krupp.
The CSI/Environmental Working Group American Clean Energy Agenda
Boston meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday on natural gas exports and
water will hopefully also address the key issue of countering the
soon to be released EDF emissions study. 100 grassroots groups are
already signed up to attend and we need to press the sponsors to
include in their agenda this other critical issue.
Suzannah Glidden
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter gas drilling task force
