Natural Gas Plays Pivotal Role in U.S. Climate Debate

In a new blog entry, Worldwatch Sustainable Energy Fellow Saya Kitasei outlines the general shape of compromise climate change legislation in the United States, which she says may include contentious provisions that would support more widespread offshore drilling, nuclear power, and natural gas extraction.

A trio of U.S. senators aims to release draft climate legislation next month that may be the only option for the country to adopt regulations on industrial greenhouse gas emissions this year after months of eroding support in the divided Senate. But some lawmakers are rumored to favor exempting hydraulic fracturing, a natural gas extraction technique that involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals into shale formations, from federal environmental regulations. "This would not only be petty, but it would endanger potentially fruitful collaboration between the natural gas industry and the environmental community" Kitasei writes.

Read the full post on Re-Volt, Worldwatch's newly launched climate and energy blog that focuses on advancing low-carbon growth policies in China, India, the United States, and elsewhere