Jackson Township, Cambria County community in shock after record methane leak
Original headline:
‘We don’t feel safe’: US community in shock after record methane leak
(Link) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/us-methane-gas-leak-fracking-jackson-township-pennsylvania
A billion cubic feet of the potent greenhouse gas were spewed into atmosphere in rural Pennsylvania amid state’s fracking boom
“It sounded like two jets were directly above my house,” said Harrison, 50, a former steelworker from Jackson Township, a rural community in Pennsylvania. “I swear to God I thought this is it, those jets are going to crash into my property.”
Residents for miles around exchanged frantic messages while scouring flight radar and emergency service scanner apps for clues, as the township’s volunteer firefighters sped past, sirens blazing. But this was no terrorist attack or aviation calamity. The deafening noise and the foul smell of rotten eggs that followed was a massive methane leak at a nearby gas storage facility, an unfolding climate catastrophe captured by satellites in space.
Over the next few weeks, more than a billion cubic feet of methane and other toxins were spewed into the atmosphere from a failed storage well at an ageing fossil-fuel facility operated by Equitrans Midstream Corporation on Rager Mountain.
- more at link -
This happened in early November, and we're just hearing about it NOW?!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Last edited Tue Mar 7, 2023, 05:28 PM - Edit history (1)
our whole future is endangered.
The Pennsylvania climate disaster was among more than 1,000 super-emitter incidents in 2022 revealed by the Guardian’s investigation into global methane leaks. Satellites captured 154 mega-leaks in the US, with Turkmenistan, Russia, Algeria, China, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Iran and Iraq among the world’s other worst emitters.
For as modern and civilized as so many people like to boast this country is, we can't even seem be tasked to keep existing infrastructure of any kind maintained. And governments have to be involved in hiding this from people, else we'd have heard about the other 999 recorded leaks.
Sometimes I think, as a species, humans are entirely too greedy, stupid and lazy to survive very much longer.
We're not the only state that puts $$ and jobs ahead of safety and environment, but we set the precedent for other states to follow suit. It makes me sick to think about it.
Apparently there was an even bigger leak near San Antonio last March: 147 tonnes/hr compared to this on in PA at 120 tonnes/hr. Anyone not living in the immediate area hear about that one? 
It seems nobody is punishing the violators. Meanwhile, they are literally killing our atmosphere with these blowouts.
It's not going to matter how many of us install solar panels or windmills. These gas companies are undoing everything.
I haven't been keeping abreast. I didn't know any of this before today and everything I posted was from the one article in the OP. How many of us actually knew any of this?
I agree, though, that it matters little what we do as long as they keep operating as they do. Sometimes I almost want to give up recycling, especially since it's not always clear where all of it goes, but I keep hoping there are enough of us doing it to move the needle even a little. There was just an article in the local news that the people of the good sized city I live outside of does very little recycling even though it's a mostly blue city in a very red state and there are multiple very robust programs available to make it easy.