Settled science: Now cow farts and burps aren't the leading US source of planet-killing methane emissions--it's natural gas, which is now allegedly "a worse climate-change polluter than coal"

Methane's profile on the rise as gas raises global warming worries | NJ.com

That is changing now as methane makes headlines because of new numbers showing more leakage than previously thought from natural gas wells and pipelines. Some critics say natural gas is a worse climate-change polluter than coal. That’s hotly disputed by energy companies.

"Methane, especially from the natural gas industry, has come much more to the fore very recently, since early 2011," said Vignesh Gowrishankar, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

One reason for the sudden attention: Last year, the EPA revised years of data to show that the leading source of methane emissions nationally wasn’t livestock flatulence — it was natural gas production.

Flashback: Fuel for Debate: Pelosi Suggests Natural Gas Isn’t a Fossil Fuel - Environmental Capital - WSJ

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, the speaker twice seemed to suggest that natural gas – an energy source she favors – is not a fossil fuel.

“I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,” she said at one point. Natural gas “is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels,” she said at another.