Researchers: Cross natural-gas bridge carefully

Political pressure has mounted to replace coal generation with natural gas to ease climate strain with the cleaner-burning fuel, but a new report published in the journal Science indicates methane leakage during gas extraction could nullify some benefits.

“Recent life cycle assessments generally agree that replacing coal with natural gas has climate benefits,´ said Garvin Heath, lead author of the report who is also a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. “Our findings show that natural gas can be a bridge to a sustainable energy future, but that bridge must be traversed carefully.”

Heath said there is…