Jersey Strong? A Different Kind of Stock Market In “The Garden State”

One Table Tells a Big Story

Savings, Deficits, and Carbon Stock Market Crash In Jersey City & Freehold

The Real Cliff We Need to Worry About Is a Climate Cliff

Source: USEPA: INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND SINKS: 1990 – 2010 (4/15/12)

The EPA’s release of greenhouse gas emissions data has gotten very favorable (and misleading) headline treatment in NJ media circles:

• Good news at N.J. power plants

• NJ Fares Well in EPA’s Map of Greenhouse Gas Totals in Industrial States. Garden State isn’t even among top 10; Linden has three of our worst-polluting facilities

Of course ranking US states by greenhouse gas emissions is highly misleading, because states vary so much in population and economic activity.

But aside from the obviously silly technical stuff, gee wiz, I wonder what economic special interests would want to spin greenhouse gas emissions data in a favorable way?

And do this just at a time when President Obama has put the issue back on the table and the largest global warming protest ever will occur next Sunday (2/17/13) in Washington DC?

But scratch just a micron beneath the surface of the news stories themselves or the actual EPA data  – and what the EPA data and Report fail to tell (like record coal, oil, and gas production levels – or proven coal & oil reserves in corporate portfolio’s)  – and a very different and disturbing picture emerges.

First, we learn this, from NJ Spotlight:

It should be noted that the EPA data does not include greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, the largest source of pollution contributing to global climate change.

But, none of those positive press reports told us this, which is just an additional piece of mounting evidence on gas drilling and pipeline leaks and lifecycle GHG potential that destroys the credibility of the natural gas emissions data:

So, instead of doing all the hard work of wading through all that data and text, I thought I push back against that favorably spun news coverage and randomly dig up one simple data chart from the EPA emissions inventory Report that packs a lot of information about and captures the less than favorable essence of the “Garden State” – cars, pavement, and pollution.