Remember When Ban-Fracking Groups Touted the Climate Benefits of Natural Gas?
Thursday February 4, 2016
Anti-fracking groups like 350.org and the Sierra Club may now fly across the country to appear at “local” rallies in Ohio and Colorado shouting “keep it in the ground” and “ban-fracking now,” but it wasn’t that long ago that these same activists were fighting for more power plants to switch to natural gas because of the substantial climate benefits.
Perhaps the best example of this is the 2009 rally at the Capitol Power Plant when environmental groups from around the country descended on Washington, D.C. “demanding that the plant switch from coal to natural gas power.” Among the 100+ groups who joined the march include 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation, Greenpeace, Ohio State Environmental Coalition, and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
According to TIME magazine, anti-fossil fuel activist and former director of 350.org Bill McKibben was even willing to get himself arrested in efforts to get the power plant switched to natural gas. As he said in the build up to the protest:
“There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law … We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested.” http://goo.gl/B8EDc
“[I]t would be easy enough to fix. In fact, the facility can already burn some natural gas instead, and a modest retrofit would let it convert away from coal entirely. … It would even stimulate the local economy.” http://goo.gl/K8TVT
Not long after that, in 2010, McKibben published his book “Eaarth” in which he claimed he supported natural gas:
“Sometimes the news is a little better … the last year has seen new discoveries of natural gas that could help wean us off dirtier c...