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
Philadelphia
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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