Included in the Black Friday news dump was a report on drilling on public lands producing one quarter of all US Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. That’s a huge proportion! No wonder the ultra-corrupt Trump Administration wanted to bury this report. You can help unbury it by recommending this diary.
BY MIRANDA GREEN
Drilling on public lands contributes nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to a new Trump administration report.
The first-of-its-kind U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report, released late Friday, found that emissions from fossil fuels produced on federal lands and offshore areas represent an average of 24 percent of all national emissions of carbon, a major contributor to air pollution and climate change.
Wyoming was the top contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Federal lands within the state contributed 57 percent of the climate change contributing emissions across all states and offshore areas combined.
The report was released on the same day as another Trump administration report that raised an alarm over U.S. efforts to stave off the effects of climate change, arguing that they are insufficient. Democrats were quick to criticize the timing of that report's release — the day after Thanksgiving — and said it highlighted a need to address emissions as soon as possible.
Federal Lands Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sequestration in the United States: Estimates for 2005–14 -pdf
Naturally the ultra-corrupt Trump Administration took action to make things worse earlier this year.
The changes would weaken requirements for monitoring the potent greenhouse gas and give the oil and gas industry more leeway to waste energy by flaring or venting.