The Environmental Defense Fund ( WWF ) has spent six months measuring the volume of methane leaking from pipes under New Jersey 's streets with a specially equipped Google Street View car . After analysing the findings , Public Sector Enterprise Group approved a $ 905 m programme to replace up to 510 miles of ageing cast - iron and unprotected steel gas lines and has already begun replacing pipes in some urban areas . “We are accelerating the modernization of our gas system, replacing 170 miles of pipe each year versus an average of 54 miles in the past,”said Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G. “Leaking methane — the main ingredient in natural gas — has a powerful effect on the climate, packing over 80 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe. Leaking methane has more than 80 times the climate - warming effect of carbon dioxide over a longer period and wastes gas that customers have already paid for .
The Environmental Defense Fund ( WWF ) has spent six months measuring the volume of methane leaking from pipes under New Jersey 's streets with a specially equipped Google Street View car . After analysing the findings , Public Sector Enterprise Group approved a $ 905 m programme to replace up to 510 miles of ageing cast - iron and unprotected steel gas lines and has already begun replacing pipes in some urban areas . Leaking methane has more than 80 times the climate - warming effect of carbon dioxide over a longer period and wastes gas that customers have already paid for .