California Air Resources Board

A tactic that dirty energy producers have used, very successfully, is spinning their product as the solution to a problem they are causing.

Fracked gas was a false solution. They called it a “bridge fuel” and said it would help in the transition to renewable energy, and politicians and media parroted the “bridge fuel” theory. Now, after a decade of gas expansion, the bridge fuel theory is no longer convincing, but we now have a plethora of new false solutions. So-called "biogas" is one of them.

Burning methane derived from waste products does not decrease greenhouse gases; it increases them. "Biogas" is expensive to produce and to use, and it is not clean. It’s chemically identical to conventional gas and travels through the same leaky pipelines. Producing large-scale "biogas" requires large concentrated waste streams of decaying matter releasing methane. This incentivizes large methane-producing landfills and industrial livestock practices that result in crowded feedlots and manure lagoons. This is an environmental justice disaster. And it wastes money that should go to real climate solutions.

“Bridge fuel,” “clean coal,” “green hydrogen,” “biogas” – these are slogans created by ad agencies to create an illusion that the polluters are combating the climate crisis. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We need to transition to renewable energy; make our homes energy efficient and reduce waste by composting and using sustainable materials. Had we begun this process decades ago, we would not have a climate crisis today.

But for decades, polluters have spent billions of dollars spreading misinformation, buying politicians, and controlling media outlets to extend their influence. Greenhouse gasses have continued to increase and are disrupting the balanced ecosystem that sustains life. We must now move quickly to do what should have been done decades ago. Great strides have been made in wind and solar power. We need to put our resources into perfecting and expanding them and make equivalent strides in efficiency and sustainability. We need to put our tax dollars into real solutions, and we have no time to waste.