Daily Sentinel uncritically reported advocate's characterization of natural gas as "clean"

Summary: An article in The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction quoted Mike Beatty, whom it identified in part as an attorney "representing clients with natural-gas interests," as stating that natural gas is a "clean" fuel. But, similar to a previous Daily Sentinel report, the article omitted that natural gas is a fossil fuel that, like coal and oil, produces greenhouse gases and other emissions considered contributors to global warming and air pollution.

In a July 27 article, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction uncritically repeated a characterization of natural gas as "a clean energy resource," quoting former Gov. Roy Romer's (D) one-time chief of staff Mike Beatty as asking, "How can a fuel that is clean, abundant, affordable and American become the Ebola virus of Colorado's fuel choices?" As Colorado Media Matters has noted, natural gas is a fossil fuel that, like coal and oil, produces several of the greenhouse gases considered contributors to global warming and air pollution. Moreover, the federal government does not distinguish between natural gas and oil production regarding the severity of potential environmental impacts.

From Gary Harmon's July 27 article in The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, "Gas advocate, ex-Romer aide assails Ritter":

Natural gas as a clean energy resource, and the people who work in the industry, are being harshly treated by the administration of Gov. Bill Ritter, said the chief of staff to the previous Democratic governor, Roy Romer.

Mike Beatty, who served as Romer's chief of staff from 1993 to 1995, delivered a harsh critique of the treatment of the natural gas industry by Ritter, also a Democrat.

Beatty is an attorney in Denver representing clients with natural-gas interests.

[...]

There is evidence that Beatty's broadside had some effect, state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said Friday.

"I think many of his facts are right," Buescher said. "His choice of language was maybe a touch overblown."

There is "a lot of movement" toward negotiation with industry as the oil and gas commission pursues new drilling rules, Buescher said

Buescher called for the commission to take care in the rule-making process as it began taking public comment from more than 2,000 industry workers in Two Rivers Convention Center this spring in Grand Junction.

The state is issuing about 100 drilling permits more per month than were issued during the past two years of the administration of Bill Owens, a Republican, said Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Ritter.

Ritter's administration failed to list the natural gas industry among the four major contributors to the state's economic development and gave the industry only passing mention among the state's initiatives to halt climate change, Beatty said.

"How can a fuel that is clean, abundant, affordable and American become the Ebola virus of Colorado's fuel choices?" Beatty said.

The Daily Sentinel did not substantiate the assertion by Beatty, whom it also identified as "an attorney in Denver representing clients with natural-gas interests," that natural gas is "clean." In fact, according to a background report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, natural gas produces significantly lower "global warming emissions" than do coal or oil, but it is considered a "greenhouse gas" and produces other harmful emissions considered contributors to global warming and air pollution. The report states:

Although natural gas is a fossil fuel and so is made up mostly of carbon, global warming emissions from gas are much less than coal or oil. Compared to coal, gas produces 43 percent fewer carbon emissions for each unit of energy produced, and 30 percent less than oil. Gas also produces no solid waste, unlike the massive amounts of ash from a coal plant, and very little sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions.

On the other hand, the combustion of gas still produces nitrogen oxides, a cause of smog and acid rain. And while carbon emissions are lower, natural gas itself is a powerful greenhouse gas. Natural gas (methane) is much more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, 58 times more effective on a pound-for-pound basis. Methane concentrations have increased eight times faster than carbon dioxide, doubling since the beginning of the industrial age. Natural gas use has accounted for about 10 percent of all global warming emissions.

Likewise, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas emits nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane, which were among the greenhouse gases cited in the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as among the anthropogenic contributors to global warming.

Further, contrary to Beatty's suggestion that as a "clean" resource natural gas extraction poses no threats to the environment, a 2005 U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) responsibilities to protect the environment drew no distinctions between natural gas and oil with regard to the seriousness of potential environmental impacts:

Environmental Impacts of Oil and Gas Development

If not properly mitigated, the environmental impacts of oil and gas development could compromise BLM's responsibility for protecting the environment. These environmental impacts range from being site specific -- for example, removing several acres of vegetation at an individual well pad -- to those that affect a much larger area, such as fragmenting tens of thousands of acres of crucial winter range for mule deer. (See figs. 1 and 2.) Air and water quality are also two resources that can be affected by oil and gas development. Air quality can be degraded by increased dust from newly graded roads, and visibility can be affected in the immediate area and downwind. Air quality can also be degraded by increased nitrogen oxides from diesel engines and compressors used at drilling sites. Surface water quality can be degraded by increased sediment, salt, and other pollutants either from water draining off newly graded surfaces and roads or from the accidental discharge of oil or water produced during oil and gas production. Shallow aquifers can be polluted if required protective measures are not in place, and coal bed methane gas production can deplete shallow aquifers that serve as domestic water sources. Visual resources can also be degraded by a high density of drilling and production equipment that in extreme situations can change the appearance of the landscape from a natural setting to an industrial zone. In addition, the noises, smells, and lights from trucks, drilling and construction equipment, and production facilities can disturb wildlife and people living nearby.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, a July 17 article by Harmon similarly claimed that "natural gas is considered a clean source of energy."

—E.B.