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*Methane is one of the more potent greenhouse gases for global warming.**The concentration of methane in the atmosphere stabilized from about 1999 to 2007, but since 2007 began rising again.* A recent study suggests that the more than 30% increase in U.S. methane emissions over the 2002–2014 period could account for 30–60% of the global growth of atmospheric methane seen in the past decade.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited President Barack Obama in March, one of the topics that was discussed was joint action on climate change. Specifically, Canada and the United States committed to new actions to reduce methane pollution from the oil and natural gas sector.
In March, 2014 the U.S. Administration issued Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, which outlined steps to cut methane emissions.* In the summer of 2015 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed standards to directly address methane from new and modified sources in the oil and gas sector with the goal of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. But studies from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and others have provided significant new data on methane emitted by existing operations in the oil and gas sector that show that "methane emissions are substantially higher than we previously understood" in the words of Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator.
In 2012, the EDF initiated a series of 16 independent projects designed to find out how much and from where methane is escaping into the atmosphere across the entire natural gas supply chain: production; gathering lines and processing facilities; long-distance pipelines, storage, and local distribution; as well as some end users using natural gas, commercial trucks and refueling stations. This investigation involved nearly 100 research and industry experts.
Scientists collected data using aircraft and ground-based platforms in the Texas Barnett Shale. Using this data they estimated regional and facility-level methane emissions and found that regional methane emissions are 50 percent higher than estimates based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
Methane emissions from local gas distribution systems were also investigated it was and found that methane emissions from local natural gas distribution systems are significant.* The EDF and Google Earth Outreach released interactive maps that show methane leaking from pipelines under city streets.
The Denver-Julesburg Flyover Study found that methane emissions were three times higher than estimates derived from EPA data.
A study assessed the spatial distribution of anthropogenic methane sources in the United States by combining comprehensive atmospheric methane observations, extensive spatial datasets, and a high-resolution atmospheric transport model. Based on the results of this analysis the authors concluded that the EPA underestimates methane emissions nationally by a factor of
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When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited President Barack Obama in March, one of the topics that was discussed was joint action on climate change. Specifically, Canada and the United States committed to new actions to reduce methane pollution from the oil and natural gas sector.
In March, 2014 the U.S. Administration issued Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, which outlined steps to cut methane emissions.* In the summer of 2015 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed standards to directly address methane from new and modified sources in the oil and gas sector with the goal of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. But studies from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and others have provided significant new data on methane emitted by existing operations in the oil and gas sector that show that "methane emissions are substantially higher than we previously understood" in the words of Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator.
In 2012, the EDF initiated a series of 16 independent projects designed to find out how much and from where methane is escaping into the atmosphere across the entire natural gas supply chain: production; gathering lines and processing facilities; long-distance pipelines, storage, and local distribution; as well as some end users using natural gas, commercial trucks and refueling stations. This investigation involved nearly 100 research and industry experts.
Scientists collected data using aircraft and ground-based platforms in the Texas Barnett Shale. Using this data they estimated regional and facility-level methane emissions and found that regional methane emissions are 50 percent higher than estimates based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
The Denver-Julesburg Flyover Study found that methane emissions were three times higher than estimates derived from EPA data.
A study assessed the spatial distribution of anthropogenic methane sources in the United States by combining comprehensive atmospheric methane observations, extensive spatial datasets, and a high-resolution atmospheric transport model. Based on the results of this analysis the authors concluded that the EPA underestimates methane emissions nationally by a factor of
أكثر...