Dirty Energy Giants Censured for Claiming Natural Gas Is 'Cleanest' Fossil Fuel

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For many years, a standard talking point from the fossil fuel industry and those who speak on the industryโ€™s behalf has been that natural gas is a cleaner alternative to conventional energy sources like coal and oil. This talking point is at least partially responsible for many people โ€” including former President Barack Obama and hisย Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz โ€” believing that natural gas can act as a โ€œbridge fuelโ€ in the eventual shift from coal and oil to renewable sources ofย energy.

But the truth is a lot more complicated than a talking point, something which a Dutch advertising watchdog has recognized as it takes two fossil fuel companies to task over misleading ads about natural gas being the โ€œcleanest of all fossilย fuels.โ€

At first glance, natural gas does appear to be โ€œcleanerโ€ due to the simple fact that it does not release as much carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned as coal. However, when you account for the release of methane (a much more potent but shorter-lived greenhouse gas)ย from burning natural gas โ€” a numberย which is frequently underreported โ€” its climate impactย goes through the roof, revealing a fuel source roughly equal in total emissions to other fossilย fuelย sources.

To complicate the issue further, when natural gas is extracted via the horizontal drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or โ€œfracking,โ€ the overall environmental impactย can actually exceed that of fuel sources such as coal and oil.

When all of these factors are taken into account, it becomes clear that natural gas is not the wonder fuel that the industry and its cheerleaders would have usย believe.

The big question then becomes how should society handle this kind of spin and misinformation fromย industry? In Europe, theyโ€™ve decided to censure the dirty energy companies that are trying to convince the public that natural gas is a cleaner alternative to coal andย oil.

According to reports, an advertising standards board in the Netherlands will formallyย censure Exxon and Shell, as part-owners of a Dutch petroleum company, forย advertising the claimย that natural gas is โ€œthe cleanest of all fossil fuels.โ€ Theย ad campaign featuring this claim ran earlier this year. Just two months ago, the agency also admonished Statoil for making the claim that natural gas was a โ€œlow emissions fuelโ€ and for calling it โ€œcleanย energy.โ€

As The Guardian reports:

The Dutch watchdog waived punitive action against the NAM company, which is part-owned by Shell and Exxon, in thatย light.

Paul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe, which co-filed the complaint with Milieudefensie, said: โ€œThis clear ruling by the advertisement standards board is of great importance. Time after time we see how oil and gas companies are misleading citizens andย politicians.

โ€œThey want us to believe that gas is clean and they support the transition to renewable energy. Behind the screens we see how the same companies lobby against this transition. To prevent catastrophic climate change we need to end the dependency on all fossil fuels โ€” includingย gas.โ€

While the move by the Dutch advertising watchdog is a great step forward, the United States is still embracing the backwards policy of believing that natural gas is the fuel of the future, with the Trump administration pushing world leaders at a recent G20 meeting to buy American natural gasย by calling it โ€œclean technologyโ€ and insinuating it’s a more stable source than Russianย gas.

The Dutch regulators understand that natural gas is not clean, it is not revolutionary, and it certainly is not a โ€œbridge fuel.โ€ If anything, the constant claims that natural gas could be cleaner are helping to prevent areas of the world from making the switch to renewable sources of energy, even as that sector continues to show phenomenal growth.

RELATED: Read DeSmog’s report โ€œFracking the Future:ย How Unconventional Gas Threatens our Water, Health, and Climate.โ€

Main image: Exxon gas station in Durham, North Carolina. Credit: Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), freeย content

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Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine, and his articles have appeared on The Huffington Post, Alternet, and The Progressive Magazine. He has worked for the Ring of Fire radio program with hosts Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, and Sam Seder since August 2004, and is currently the co-host and producer of the program. He also currently serves as the co-host of Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV, a daily program airing nightly at 8:30pm eastern. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009.ย  Follow him on Twitterย @farronbalanced.

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