New Plants Trigger Greenhouse Gas Rise

Some 90 million tons of additional greenhouse gas emissions is expected because of new industrial plants and plant expansions in the U.S. triggered by the flood of natural gas entering the market from hydraulic fracturing, says a report by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan organization. That amount is similar to the greenhouse gas output of about 20 large coal-fired power plants, the report says. About half the total, 45.8 million tons, is attributable to new chemical industry construction that is taking advantage of the recent supply of cheap natural gas. The group derived emissions by examining company Clean Air Act permit filings and made recommendations to reduce or counter these new releases. The report did not consider methane emissions from drilling or gas processing.