AmericaSpeaks TheVoiceOfJoyce What happened in East Palestine, Ohio was an avoidable tragedy and Northern Suffolk railroad can be held culpable. However, this incident pales in comparison to the 50 yrs of toxins spewed into Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, or the 1000 methane emissions leaked into the atmosphere in 2022 globally. In 2022, rural Jackson, Pa. was exposed to a billion cubic feet of methane and other toxins spewing from a Fossil Fuel facility, Equitrans Midstream Corporation on Ranger Mountain. Why aren’t “We the People “, suing all these corporations for restitution and accountability? Why aren’t you voting for Legislators, who care about you and your Community? #PoliticsAffectsUs! Imagine how much healthier we would all be, if we enforced legislation compelling Corporations to clean up toxic pollution.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/us-methane-gas-leak-fracking-jackson-township-pennsylvania

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.

Pennsylvania

Jackson

Township

Pittsburgh

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Guardian graphic.

This sleepy community, surrounded by rolling hills and forests, was the scene of the biggest gas leak in Pennsylvania’s history – and one of the worst ever detected in the US.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that warms the Earth’s atmosphere much faster than CO2, and today is responsible for about 25% of the heat trapped by all greenhouse gases. The oil and gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane, an invisible gas that can also cause a myriad of medical complications, fires and even engine failure leading helicopters to fall out of the sky.

According to some calculations, the Jackson Township leak was equivalent to planet-warming emissions from burning more than 1,080 rail cars of coal or from running 360,000 cars for a year. The incident triggered a bomb scare at one school after a student overheard a bus driver talking about the risk of explosions.

The relentless racket and stench caused people to suffer severe headaches, lightheadedness, sore throat, burning nose, nausea and sleep deprivation as the company struggled to plug the leak. Harrison’s wife, Tammy, 49, missed several days of work. For some residents – already fed up with the proliferation of fossil fuel pipelines and power plants – this was the final straw. “I have to get out,” said Beth Shoff, 52, a college professor.

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.


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