A unique aerial measurement campaign found that emission inventories compiled by energy companies to account for planet-warming methane leaking from equipment on Colorado oil and gas production sites undercount such pollutants by at least two times.
Results from the $3.25 million project, led by a team of university researchers and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, provided officials for the first time with a more complete picture of the invisible pollutant emitted from well pads. Fossil fuel extraction is the state’s second-largest source of methane pollution, which has a global warming potential roughly 80 times that of carbon dioxide during a 20-year period.
