Wanted: Natural gas industry volunteers.

The job: Provide the data that will determine if your shale gas operations actually give off a lot more greenhouse gases than your industry “clean skies” image would suggest.

That’s one of the main recommendations released this morning by a key U.S. advisory panel that the Obama administration established to help determine the path of the nation’s natural gas future. The U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board’s natural gas subcommittee unveiled a 41-page report with preliminary advice on how to grapple with the environmental challenges that have grown out of the industry that now produces nearly one third of U.S. natural gas.

(Explore National Geographic’s special report, The Great Shale Gas Rush)

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