Report: Fargo getting warmer

Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota’s state climatologist, agreed that a long-term shift in warmer temperatures has occurred. Fargo, for instance, is 2.8 degrees warmer on average than it was 100 years ago.

But Akyuz said carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, is a tiny percent of the atmosphere, and there are so many variables and dynamics in the atmosphere that it is difficult to assign major blame to burning fossil fuels.

Mike Williams, Fargo city commissioner, said the shift to green energy sources presents opportunities. The city this year sold carbon credits for $600,000 that it earned from capturing and burning landfill methane.

At today’s prices, the city stands to pocket $450,000 to $500,000 a year for its methane carbon credits, with another $130,000 for selling methane gas to industry and $290,000 for electricity. Fargo’s captured methane is the equivalent of taking 28,000 cars off the road, Williams said.

“It’s a nonpartisan issue,” he said. “It’s about science.”