Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumA natural gas company co-founder as a fundraiser is wonderful and this is why
Natural gas is the logical first step in fighting global warming. Converting from gasoline, diesel and heating oil reduces a lot of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
Converting to natural gas is relatively inexpensive and can be done rapidly. In India and China, they have converted a lot of vehicles to use CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) instead of gasoline or diesel, reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Why? Because natural gas burns cleaner and far more efficiently than gasoline or diesel. CNG engines emit 97 percent less carbon dioxide, 72 percent less hydrocarbons and 99% less sulfur compounds.
It will take at least a half a decade to convert to solar/wind/hydro/geo etc. and all those conversions are extremely expensive. The immediate short-term step is to convert everything we can to CNG before we go electric.
I am proud that VP Biden is leading this by partnering with a co-founder of a natural gas enterprise. It shows vision and foresight.
https://www.reuters.com/article/china-lng-transport/chinas-natural-gas-drive-may-cut-oil-demand-by-a-tenth-idUSL4N0AL6UI20130228
Go Joe!!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
BlueMississippi
(776 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
questionseverything
(9,645 posts)in the Midwest we have huge natural gas wells, they stick a pipe in them and then control the flow, while it is not as clean as wind or solar it is much cleaner than coal or fuel oil and doesn't poison the water like fracking does
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Eliot Rosewater
(31,106 posts)make me super happy, I can accept it if the alternative is the end of the human race. And THAT is the alternative.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)quick, pretty little path out. We MUST use our best options among what we have.
People don't realize that energy is as basic as water to life. The climate crisis is mainly an energy-use crisis. Those energy sources we stop using must be replaced with others. We are not yet to the point of rationing energy to keep our nation going during the transition, but as the crises deepen we may be forced to accept it.
Goodness knows there's lots of at least residential waste to cut back before further restrictions become painful, though. Right now millions of people indignant about what fracking is doing to some haven't changed by even one degree thermostats set at least several degrees above and below what's actually needed for comfort.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Ford_Prefect
(7,868 posts)This is NOT a good answer. While we need to reduce emissions we also need to stop fracking as it releases methane and other greenhouse gases, along with poisoning water on the surface through runoff, and through subsurface toxic migration into aquifers and wells.
I like Joe well enough but some of his "friends" are carrying bad baggage.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
NYMinute
(3,256 posts)1. It is only a temporary solution until we get solar and other cleaner modalities operational in 5-7 years
and
2. Alternatives to fracking are bound to develop -- several are already in development
So, while we wait for solar, wind etc. to generate enough electricity, we can convert to natural gas immediately.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Eliot Rosewater
(31,106 posts)If we have a fascist killer traitor in the WH none of those alternatives will be allowed, all the more reason to IF Joe is the nominee to support him as if he is GREAT because he is!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Ford_Prefect
(7,868 posts)Modern Fracking dates from the 1940's and the technology has not changed significantly except to employ more toxic chemicals (whose content neither the EPA nor Congress may know) and the disposal of fluids from the process by injecting them into dead wells.
Ask those who can light the water from their taps how temporary they think the future should be or would you prefer to explain that to their next of kin?
Solar and wind now power significant parts of Europe, Asia and other parts of the planet, as they have been in some cases for decades.
How many delays do you plan to afford? Whose water and air do you think can be compromised until the "future" arrives for those not yet poisoned?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
floppyboo
(2,461 posts)At least this is true for the proposed northern BC floating processing stations. They will be taking Fracked gas from the Western Sedimentary (Shale) Basin and refine it on platforms way north in earthquake/tsunami prone waters.
Yes, there is some cleaner stuff in Asia that does not rely on fracking - but this is not NOT (I'm trying not yell) what is going on around this continent.
And the LNG process leaks methane, which is undetectable.
Big giant mess!!!
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
floppyboo
(2,461 posts)VANCOUVEROne of the B.C. First Nations whose legal battle helped halt the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in its tracks last year is vowing a fresh court challenge in the wake of the federal governments decision Tuesday to restart the controversial project.
snip
We will be appealing this decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. We believe the consultation missed the mark set by the federal court of Canada, said George-Wilson.
Last summer, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and others won a major court case that forced federal authorities to reconsider the environmental risks of the increased tanker traffic associated with the pipeline project and undertake further consultation with Indigenous communities.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
DrFunkenstein
(8,745 posts)Joe Biden said he would not ban the practice of fracking for natural gas, distancing himself from some of his Democratic rivals, but said he would evaluate existing fracking permits to determine their safety.
"We can pass national legislation, but I don't think we would get it done to say all fracking going on ends unless we can say there is some physical security need," Biden said Wednesday night at CNN's climate change town hall, in response to a question about banning fracking.
Biden, the former vice president running as a relative centrist, has joined most of the other Democrats in endorsing the goal of the United States reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, but has stopped short of calling for the end of fracking, as competitors such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris have done.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/biden-says-he-wouldnt-ban-fracking-distancing-himself-from-rivals
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided