Letter: Strive for zero emissions

In its recent billing insert, Northwest Natural Gas cites a survey it commissioned. According to the insert, the survey shows that “renewable natural gas” sees “strong support in the Northwest.”

According to NW Natural’s description of the survey results, that’s not what the survey showed. It showed respondents want access to “all forms of renewable energy.”

We’ve lately been hearing more talk about RNG. Probably few of us, including survey respondents, even know what RNG is.

I’ve been trying to learn about it. RNG is methane gas, chemically identical to fossil natural gas, but sourced from decaying material from landfills and other sources. The methane gas those facilities produce can be captured, cleaned up and pumped into a pipeline.

There are problems with RNG: It’s expensive, there isn’t enough of it to replace the natural gas we now use, and burning it produces carbon emissions exactly like burning fossil gas. We need to wean ourselves from fossil fuels, not find different sources for carbon emissions.

NW Natural’s billing insert describes its survey results under the heading “Destination Zero.” RNG will not help us achieve “destination zero.”