We now know that fracked natural gas may leak enough methane to make its warming impact, especially in the near term, comparable to that of coal. Anthony Ingraffea, who coauthored the breakthrough Cornell study on methane leakage and describes himself as “a longtime oil and gas engineer who helped develop shale fracking techniques for the Energy Department,” wrote in The New York Times, “The gas extracted from shale deposits is not a ‘bridge’ to a renewable energy future—it’s a gangplank to more warming and away from clean energy investments.”49 We also know, from experience in the U.S., that
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