Methane Clips: January 20, 2022

General News

New Data Shows Massive Climate-Warming Leaks By New Mexico Oil And Gas Operators. According to Capital & Main, “In New Mexico, new state rules sparked a dramatic increase in reported incidents of vented and flared natural gas in 2021 — and reveal that the oil and gas industry has been losing vastly more of the climate-change-driving fossil fuel than previously reported. ‘The state’s updated reporting requirements were long overdue,’ says Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund. The new numbers are in line with previous EDF research showing huge amounts of vented and flared natural gas in recent years. A review of year-end data from the state’s Oil Conservation Division (OCD) shows that producers vented or flared enough natural gas to power nearly 39,000 homes for a year — roughly the number of households in Las Cruces, the state’s second-largest city. The actual total for the year is likely much higher as the new reporting only began in May. Not only that, but the new reporting system also reveals that the state’s largest natural gas producer, Hilcorp Energy of Houston, reported surprisingly low numbers of incidents — about a hundred times lower than either similarly sized competitors or the size of its operations would suggest.” [Capital & Main, 1/18/22 (=)]

America Has A Manure Problem, And The Miracle Solution Being Touted Isn’t All That It Seems. According to The Guardian, “It’s hard to talk about meat, dairy or egg farming without talking about poop. Manure plays a big role on American factory farms, and if not properly managed it can quickly turn into a big problem. Each year in the US livestock animals produce between 1.27 and 1.37bn tons of waste – or somewhere between three and 20 times more manure than people produce in the US. That’s partly why devices that take manure and turn it into an energy source are catching on – as a way to manage waste and reduce methane emissions on farms. All that waste has to go somewhere, and many of the existing options aren’t great for us or for the environment. Manure from animal agriculture is a primary source of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in US waterways, making water undrinkable and causing algae blooms that kill wildlife. Manure is also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions on livestock farms – and much of its impact depends, specifically, on how it’s managed and stored. Twelve per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions from the US agricultural sector come from what the EPA calls ‘manure management’. So why not turn all that pollution into something that can power vehicles and other farming equipment – or into something that can be sold and used off-farm? This is the supposed promise of anaerobic digestion. In the past five years, there has been a surge of partnerships between animal farms and natural gas companies promoting the use of anaerobic digesters, which turn manure into a form of energy called biogas. The EPA has identified more than 8,000 dairy and hog operations as prime candidates for future on-farm digesters. Amid talks at Cop26, the Biden administration pointed to an expanding biogas industry as crucial to its methane emissions action plan. Smithfield, Perdue and Chevron all announced digester partnerships in the last two years.” [Guardian, 1/20/22 (=)]