Methane gas facility diagram[/caption]Editor--In the wake of study showing high levels of climate-altering methane emissions in one of Utah’s largest oil and gas producing region is raising serious concerns among environmentalists. The Environmental Defense Fund is calling for action in response to a new report.
President Fred Krupp of EDF has sounded the alarm on behalf of his organization and others concerned about oil and gas production areas, especially the methane emissions, which is the main ingredient in natural gas. This gas is many times more potent than carbon dioxide.
An area of about 1000 square miles in Utah is involved with between 6.2 and 11.7 percent of the total production impacted.
Krupp is asking for regulators and the oil and gas industry to take immediate action to find out the source of the emissions and do something to reduce them. Krupp reminds us of the present administrations declaration about the need to take action with reference to climate change and said, “Reducing methane emissions is a critical issue not only for the industry, but for everyone concerned about climate change.”
The study in question, “Methane emissions estimate from airborne measurements over a western United States natural gas field,” was published in Geophysical Research Letters.
US policy research has already determined that methane is one of the emissions most important to reduce because it is one of those gases that if reduced can limit the rate of climate change in the near-term.
