The Biggest Methane Leak in America Is in New Mexico ...

Researchers using satellite data have pinpointed New Mexico's San Juan Basin as a major source of leaking methane in the United States.

The region was responsible for 10 percent of all the methane emissions from the natural gas sector in the country, according to a study published yesterday in Geophysical Research Letters. If gas, coal mining and petroleum sectors are included, the San Juan Basin was responsible for 5 percent of the emissions.

The region emitted 0.59 million metric tons of methane every year between 2003 and 2009, the study found. That rate is three times the amount reported in the European Union's greenhouse gas inventory, called EDGAR. It is 1.8 times the reported value in U.S. EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

By Gayathri Vaidyanathan, ClimateWire on October 10, 2014


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