US energy industry methane emissions are triple what government thinks, study finds

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

A new study calculates that U.S. oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and compressors are spewing three times the amount of the potent heat-trapping gas methane as the government thinks. Wednesday’s study estimates it’s causing $9.3 billion in yearly climate damage. It’s just a few really bad polluters called super-emitters. The study’s lead author says more than half of these leaky methane emissions are coming from a tiny number of oil and gas sites, 1% or less. He said that means the problem is both worse than the government thought but also fairly fixable.