Ironically, as more people become aware of the shale gas story in North America, the more it faces obstacles in gaining market share.
Just four years ago it wasn’t difficult to find environmentalists who supported natural gas as a “bridge” fuel from coal and oil toward renewables. Now the number of “green” supporters is quickly dwindling as hydraulic fracturing has come under fire in the past few years.

In 2009, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore —arguably the most recognizable and influential environmentalist in the world—was a supporter of gas as a bridge fuel and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a replacement fuel for heavy-duty diesel trucks. In the past several years, Gore has backed away from that support.

Following a recent speech in Washington, D.C., Gore discussed his current stance on the matter with Hart Energy.

“I think the jury is still out [on whether natural gas as a bridge fuel can benefit the environment]. I’m skeptical myself. I had been an advocate for natural gas as a bridge fuel from coal to renewable energy,” he said.
“As a result of the shale-gas revolution, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, natural gas has increased its importance in the energy debate, but there are certain things that trouble me about it,” Gore added. “The amount of CO2 [carbon dioxide] in each Btu [British thermal unit] from natural gas is only half of what’s in coal, but each molecule of methane, which is mostly what natural gas is, is 72 times as powerful as a molecule of CO2 in trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 10- to 20-year time span. If there is a lot of leaking of methane as part of the fracking process, it wouldn’t take that much to wipe out the environmental advantages.”

Gore said the industry isn’t doing a great job at limiting methane leaks as some producers are flaring gas, which is releasing more harmful emissions into the atmosphere. According to Gore, if you look at satellite images of the Bakken shale in North Dakota at night, it shows lights as bright as those from Chicago, because of all of the flaring.

He also said he was unsure of the fracking process itself, which has had issues of pollution associated with it raised in recent years. “The gas is typically way deeper than the aquifers, but there have been too many instances of leakage … There are also concerns about the handling of the fracing fluids. There are many scientists who say this concern is overblown, and it may be. However, the man that invented hydraulic fracturing, George P. Mitchell, has called for very strict regulations by the [U.S.] federal government.”
In his recently released book, “The Future,” Gore wrote that many of the largest producers in the world do take the necessary steps to prevent flowback, but many wildcat operators do not engage in best practices.

Although he has questioned the advantages of increased gas use, Gore did acknowledge that this is at least, in part, due to the investment funds that are being steered away from renewables and toward gas-related ventures.

“The shale gas boom in the U.S. has led to a frenzy of exploration for shale gas in China, Europe, Africa and elsewhere, raising the specter of long-term global commitment to gas at the longer-term expense of renewables,” he wrote.

Gore also raised the possibility that the use of gas as a bridge fuel may not be realistic, since it would be hard to imagine global society making the large investments necessary to switch from coal to gas and then turn around shortly thereafter to switch from gas to renewables, which would come at a similarly high economic cost.

“In other words, [natural gas] may be a bridge to nowhere,” he wrote.

Frank Nieto can be reached at fnieto@hartenergy.com or (703) 891-4807.

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