In April, Tennessee adopted a law that requires the state government to consider planet-overheating methane gas a “clean” energy source, Heated reports.

Methane gas — sometimes called natural gas, which is mostly methane but contains other gases — is an energy source similar to oil and coal. Burning natural gas creates air pollution and heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), though relatively less than oil or coal.

Methane gas is also a heat-trapping gas itself; when it escapes into the atmosphere due to leaks and faulty equipment, it has up to 80 times the effect on our planet’s temperature that carbon pollution would.

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