California’s gas leak is doing 7 million cars’ worth of climate damage

Natural gas has been pouring into a Los Angeles neighborhood since October 23. It’s considered to be the biggest environmental disaster since the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. It could be months before the methane leak is stopped. An estimate of the impact on climate change (methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, stronger than carbon dioxide) has been equated to driving seven million cars FOR THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS.

David McNew/AFP/Getty Images

From Vox Media (vox.com) contributors Dara Lind and Dylan Matthews, on December 29, 2015:

California’s ongoing environmental disaster

• The leak caught national attention last week, when the EDF posted an infrared video that shows a plume of methane escaping. [Popular Mechanics / Jay Bennett]

• Two area schools were closed indefinitely earlier in the month due to the leak (the students will be sent to other schools in the area until it’s fixed). [KTLA / Kareen Wynter]

• Efforts to plug the leak were ongoing even before it was pinpointed. But they haven’t been working, as Melissa Cronin explains for Vice. [Vice / Melissa Cronin]

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