Why do we call a dirty fossil fuel 'natural' gas? - The Seattle Times

Why do we call a dirty fossil fuel ‘natural’ gas? | The Seattle Times

For just a seven-letter adjective, “natural” carries a lot of weight.

Why? What’s in a name? Natural gas by any other would smell just as flatulent.

Well, what began as a simple — even logical — distinction in the early 1800s has transitioned into a wildly successful branding campaign for fossil fuel companies.

Natural gas generates electricity, heats our water and cooks our food. It’s a divisive topic these days, and the controversy ranges from the dangers of indoor use to the big-picture national transition away from coal and gasoline.

It’s billed as a cheaper fuel and a cleaner way to shift to renewable energy. There are substantial caveats to both claims, but businesses and people profiting from natural gas continue to spread them, leaning on the very name of the fuel to lend their arguments credibility.

What is natural gas?

Mostly, anyway. Ethane and, to a lesser extent, propane are also in the mix, said Debbie Gordon, of the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute’s Climate Intelligence Program.

Deposits of methane are found underground, often near oil, which makes sense since the gas is also a fossil fuel. Companies drill wells for the gas and, in many cases, shoot water and chemicals into the sedimentary rock to force methane up to the surface where they collect it and pipe it to refineries.

That process is called hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking. It uses millions of gallons of water, contaminates drinking water and even causes earthquakes.

After processing, the methane is piped toward its customers, making a few stops along the way (perhaps in compressor stations to maintain gas pressure or in underground reservoirs).

Eventually, the methane reaches local gas mains where it’s metered out to customers.

How do we use natural gas?

This stuff is everywhere.

Nationally, utilities generate more than 43% of our electricity using methane, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

We use methane to heat our homes and our water, and we use it to cook our food.

Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest utility, serves nearly 800,000 gas customers across six counties. PSE officials declined to comment for this article.

We also use gas (sometimes propane rather than methane) to power small vehicles like forklifts, commercial trucks and public buses.

This is a relatively newer trend, gaining momentum as governments shift away from traditional combustion engines. Last year, President Joe Biden’s administration announced $400 million in grants for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. More than $233 million of that will go toward compressed natural gas buses, according to the national organization Natural Gas Vehicles for America.

So, expect more natural-gas-powered vehicles coming to a city near you.

Why do we say ‘natural’ gas?

Why indeed. What does “natural” even mean? Fresh spring water is natural, sure, but so is uranium, arsenic and cyanide.

The rationale behind the descriptor goes back a ways.

Turns out that when a businessman captured the gas in western New York around 1821 and sold it as fuel, “natural” was meant to distinguish methane from the other combustibles of the day, Rebecca Leber reported for Vox. Compared to whale blubber or gas from coal, methane burned without sending visible particulate matter, soot and smog into the air.

Companies didn’t have to produce natural gas like those other sources, Gordon said.

Makes sense, right? They had a new product, and they sold it as such.

We now know, however, that methane is actually a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and therefore a significant contributor to climate change. Burning methane still pollutes the air, just with smaller particles than coal and other fossil fuels. And the use of indoor gas stoves is increasingly linked to cases of childhood asthma.

That said, natural gas is still generally affordable. In Washington, it’s about half as expensive as electricity to generate the same amount of energy, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

The pricing is changing, though. The cost of natural gas spiked dramatically last year, though it has since calmed. Rising natural gas prices are forecast for this year and next, according to Energy Information Administration data. Electricity generated by gas is also expected to decrease over that same timespan while renewable generation is on the rise (especially here in Washington).

What is natural gas’s place in our energy future?

Natural gas is often touted as a bridge fuel, a way to transition away from coal and toward wind and solar power. But a growing body of research indicates that the gas can be just as harmful to the atmosphere as coal, particularly because it leaks so prolifically.

“It’s really hard to take something that’s invisible and odorless and under pressure and make sure it’s contained,” said Gordon, who is also a senior fellow in international and public affairs at Brown University.

This all might sway public opinion but that’s where the branding campaign comes in.

“The ‘natural’ in ‘natural gas’ provides a halo effect that leads many in the public to view it as cleaner or more benign than coal or oil,” Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, said in an email.

Opinion plummets when people are asked the same questions but about “methane” or “methane gas” rather than “natural gas,” Leiserowitz and his colleagues found in a 2021 study. Other terms like “fossil gas” or “fracked gas” split on party lines with Democrats viewing them negatively and Republicans viewing them positively, the study found.

Natural gas companies and advocates are aware of the public perception, and they’ve been using the phrasing to their advantage for decades, Leber reported for Vox.

So why do we call it “natural” gas? Partly because we’ve always done it and then partly because people and companies making money benefit from the phrase.

People are catching on, though. Last month, Biden paused permitting for new liquefied natural gas export facilities (congressional Republicans are looking to overturn the move). And in 2022, the United States, European Union and 11 other countries agreed to the Global Methane Pledge, setting the goal of cutting methane emissions at least 30% by 2030.

Cities are also pushing to ban or phase out gas stoves, a proposition that generates ongoing controversy and pushback.

Gordon said we — nationally and globally — need tighter regulations on gas leaks on industrial and individual scales alongside more renewable energy projects.

“There are a lot of solutions out there,” Gordon said. “I don’t think we should just assume gas is here to stay.”