Immediate Risks

Global warming can seem like a slow burning problem that builds over time. Greenhouse effects manifest as turbulent weather patterns (i.e. storms and floods). However, extraction methods for gathering methane cause much more immediate hazards to the environment and life, both human and otherwise. One such instance of methane's effect on the environment happened in California.

A rupture in the Aliso Canyon Southern California Gas Facility has leaked an estimated 94,000 tons of methane into the area over the course of 3 months. An estimated 1,000,000 barrels per day were released in the atmosphere. The leak is so large it is being compared to the BP spill. One scientist, Jeff Peischl states: "The current methane emission rate estimates released by the California Air Resources Board are approximately equal to the methane emissions from the entire Los Angeles urban area, and one quarter of the methane emissions from the entire state of California."

Learn more at http://methaneeducation.weebly.com/ 

Sources:
Carbon Brief Organization
http://www.carbonbrief.org/aliso-canyon-how-bad-is-the-california-gas-leak-disaster

OEHHA
http://oehha.ca.gov/public_info/emergency/alisocanyon.html

LA Daily News
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20151219/two-months-in-porter-ranch-gas-leak-compared-to-bp-gulf-oil-spill