U.S. Gives $15 Million to Help Cut Methane Emissions

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday pledged $15 million to help get the World Bank’s new initiative to cut methane emissions underway.

The Pilot Auction Facility for Methane and Climate Mitigation will use auctions to allocate public funds and private investment into projects around the globe that reduce methane emissions, including those that cut waste from landfills and treatment plants.

Addressing business leaders and government representatives at the opening of Climate Week NYC, Kerry said it was “about time” that world leaders recognized the “threat” of global warming.

“It gives me hope that this global summit may actually produce the leadership that is necessary to try to come together and move the needle to take advantage of the small window of time that we have left in order to be able to prevent the worst impacts of climate change for already happening,” he said.

Kerry urged leaders attending the U.N. Climate Change Summit in New York, which kicks off Tuesday, to “move and act now” on global warming, reports Responding to Climate Change.

The summit aims to engage governments and businesses into making real efforts to reduce climate change in preparation for an international agreement in 2015 to limit global warming to less than 2°C.

See the Worst Place to Breathe in America

A passenger train travels through town past a refinery in Bakersfield, Calif.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Oil pumps and scarred earth can be seen for miles in an area of North Bakersfield called the Bluffs. A Cogeneration Plant sits in the middle of the fields and is one of California's top polluters.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

A dust storm blows through Bakersfield, Calif. Dust is a pervasive problem in the area.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Yareli Gonzalez, 7, suffers from asthma and receives two nebulizer treatments per day, indefinitely. Gonzalez lives in Shafter, a rural farming town in Kern County, Calif. Kern County sits at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, an area known for having the worst air in the nation due to dust, smog and high levels of ozone.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Asthma educator Sharon Borradori, left, shows Margarita Hernandez, center, and her husband, Severo Velasco, right, how their 2-year-old son, Mauricio Velasco will use an inhaler when he's older. Mauricio was recently released from the hospital after suffering from an extreme asthma attack.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Children practice sports on a field at Bakersfield High School which backs up against the train yard that runs through the middle of town in Bakersfield.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Young football players exercise on the stadium of Bakersfield High School. Bakersfield High is the oldest high school in town and the mascot, the Driller, is directly tied to area industry.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Benjamin Swall, 14, waits for his brother's football practice to end at Bakersfield High School.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Red Simspon, a country music legend and Bakersfield native, smokes a cigarette outside of the Rasmussen Senior Center in Oildale, north of Bakersfield.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Merced Mendoza moves irrigation pipe in a field that will be used to grow alfalfa. The field is adjacent to and owned by Kern Oil and Refining Co. Mendoza is a leader for a men's group at Victory Outreach Church in Bakersfield that rents the land from the refinery to grow alfalfa that is then sold to a local dairy for feed. The money earned from the feed helps fund the men's program for the church. This symbiotic relationship between resource companies and the community are played out throughout the region.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Percolation ponds fill up with runoff water from nearby Belridge Oil Fields in Eastern Kern County. As the water evaporates, leaving oil residue, hydrogen sulfide, methane and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are released in to the air.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Dust devils can be seen reaching toward the sky during dry months in Bakersfield. Dust is a pervasive problem that contributes to diminished air quality. The problem is exacerbated by the current drought in California.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Lucy Clark, 72, lives in the foothills north of Bakersfield. Her home sits at 2200 feet, which is about the elevation where the visible layer of smog begins to hang in the air. Because of this, Clark, who suffers from asthma, wears a mask every day she walks out to get the mail.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Elk Hills Power plant provides electricity to power Occidental Elk Hills oil field. Oxy's Elk Hills field is one of the largest oil fields in the United States and the natural gas power plant can produce 550 megawatts of electricity.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

Samantha Olivarez, 9, left, and her cousin, Daisy Olivarez, 7, play in front of their home in Arvin, Calif. The homes across the street were evacuated after a gas pipe leaked underground. According to reports, the 40-year-old pipe was leaking for as long as two years before it was detected. Olivarez's family is worried about possible health risks in the area due to the pollution.

Lexey Swall—GRAIN

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Write to Helen Regan at helen.regan@timeasia.com.