The idea that an oil or gas pipeline could be positive news for the environment is completely alien to those who believe we should put an end to the fossil fuel era once and for all. Yet if you ask someone who happened to be close when two oil trains in Canada derailed recently about their opinion, they might disagree about the pipelines. The disagreement could be even sharper when gas pipelines are concerned, because more gas pipelines mean less gas flaring. Gas flaring is the practice of burning associated gas that comes out of an oil well with the oil. In 2018, the shale boom drove the amount of gas flared in the United States up 48 percent, and the global total up 3 percent to 145 billion cubic meters, according to data from the World Bank. But flaring means emissions, so that’s a rise in emissions, too—a […]