The fossil fuel industry has spent decades telling the public that “natural” gas is the “cleanest” fossil fuel.

Are you ready for a horror story?

The Department of Energy has declined to endorse a standard for “certified” or “responsibly sourced” methane gas following pressure from a large coalition of climate and environmental justice organizations. 

The entertainment industry has influenced American culture and attitudes since the days of the silver screen.

In the 1960s, the tobacco industry reacted to mounting scrutiny over their product’s lethal effects by introducing “low-tar” cigarettes.

This week brought even more evidence that gas stoves are polluting the air inside 40 million US homes. Researchers at Stanford University measured emissions from gas and propane stoves and found concentrations of cancer-causing benzene on par with second-hand cigarette smoke.

For decades, the fossil fuel industry told us that “natural” (methane) gas was a “bridge fuel” to clean energy — a supposedly cleaner alternative to coal or oil that could fill the gap until clean energy was ready. 

No matter what the fossil fuel industry claims in its advertising, “natural” gas is anything but “clean.”

Lawmakers in Ohio and now Tennessee have passed bills in recent months that categorize “natural” gas as “clean” or “green” energy.

“Natural” gas is explosive enough on its own. Now the gas industry wants to put it in highly pressurized tanks, load it onto train cars and send it barrelling through America’s rail communities at high speeds.