Shale Gas and Methane Emissions

Let me guess: The studies finding a greater greenhouse gas emission than coal come from supposedly "independent" sources (i.e: government funded) and those that find emissions less than that of coal are somehow "industry" funded, and thus are (by implication) biased. Though if you look, any research that might be in opposition to Anthropogenic Global Warming can't get government funding. "The consensus is settled" you know.

The worst thing about the politicization of science is that now you cannot trust anyone's numbers, rendering "science" useless as a guide.

There are real scientific and design problems with the currently accepted "global warming theories", and we have found that most of these models were "tweeked" to exclude natural factors / causes. See my technical analysis at:

http://naturesglobalwarming.blogspot.com/

The greenhouse gas footprint of shale gas must include leaks of methane to the atmosphere (methane release) from the flowback water that is dumped in sludge ponds. "GHG emissions from shale gas use" would not seem to include that factor, as release is not use, so that would give a loophole for the shale gas boosters. Sludge pond emissions of methane would be routine, and not exceptional events like venting or leaks. I haven't read the 5 other studies, so it is not clear to me how or if they took sludge pond methane emissions into account. Methane release is also a problem with manure ponds, and the new California cap-and-trade regime includes an offset for dealing with that problem in dairies.

The amounts of methane and other C-chain hydrocarbon gases from Natural sources is so much bigger in both mass amounts and released volumes. There are already existing and proposed rulings on well head controls, so who has taken the time to look at those things and see how they control GHG emissions? Or are people going by the popular conspiracies they hear about the shale gas operations?