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Ask a Scientist: Gas Plants Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Communities

Union of Concerned Scientists

Responsible for 12 percent of all US global warming emissions from human activities, methane traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 86 times more harmful for the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. First, there’s air pollution.

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Too Many Gas Power Plants are the Problem Not the Solution

Union of Concerned Scientists

Over the year, those plants emitted 661 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, more than 13% of the US’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Gas plants release heat trapping emissions that go into the atmosphere and contribute to the climate crisis, and this affects us all.

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Reliance on Gas Power Plants Fuels Inequity

Union of Concerned Scientists

Most notable of these polluting emissions are nitrogen oxides (NOx). Climate impacts The power sector accounts for approximately 25% of heat-trapping emissions in the United States, with gas plants accounting for 45% of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the power industry.

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Don’t Believe the Lies: Five Facts to Consider as the UN’s COP27 Comes to a Close

Union of Concerned Scientists

Their study examined the carbon dioxide and methane emissions from these companies’ products, as well as from the extraction and production processes of the largest gas, oil and coal producers and cement manufacturers. Data on the major carbon producers’ emissions have been published since 2014.

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Statement: Ontario’s Hydrogen Investments are Dangerous Subsidies Masquerading as Climate Action

Enviromental Defense

Background Information: Though hydrogen itself isn’t technically a greenhouse gas, scientists have found that hydrogen actually does contribute to temperature rise through some complex chemical reactions—and is actually 33 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

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DEP Invests Over $2.7 Million In Alternative Fuel Transportation Projects To Improve Air Quality & Public Health, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

PA Environment Daily

The AFIG Program funds projects that replace older gasoline- or diesel-fueled vehicles with cleaner fuel vehicles that helps reduce emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide, a principal greenhouse gas.

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Tackling Agricultural Methane: An Overview of the Science

Legal Planet

Because methane has 28 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide and a shorter atmospheric life of only 12 years, immediate action to reduce methane emissions —including from agriculture—is critical to slow our warming climate, especially in light of expanding global populations and food demand.