Methane sensors put on planes, trucks in oil production zone (NM,TX)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | October 2, 2019 | AP

[CedarDave]

SANTA FE, N.M. — Methane sensors will be put on planes, trucks and atop towers in the West Texas and southeastern New Mexico desert in a new effort to gauge the extent of greenhouse gas emissions from surging oil and natural gas production, advocates with the Environmental Defense Fund announced Wednesday.

The yearlong project in the Permian Basin petroleum production region involves researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wyoming, and low-flying planes from a Colorado-based atmospheric research company.

The new methods will be used because traditional estimates of methane emissions have not kept up with the rapid expansion petroleum exploration in the area spanning roughly 85,000 square miles (220,000 square miles), said Environmental Defense Fund Regulatory Affairs Director Jon Goldstein.

[CedarDave]

The enviro-fascists now have their sights set on methane (the main component of natural gas) that may frequently leak or is intentionally released during drilling operations (flaring to prevent explosive gas buildup). According to the EPA it traps 25 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and is a bigger cause of global warming.

Of course NM's new far left radical governor has taken up the cause by directing state regulators to develop new oilfield rules to limit methane emissions. Of course this goes beyond air quality, but another attempt, like using the Endangered Species Act, to curtail fossil fuel drilling and production.

[CedarDave]

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[Red Badger]

These people are brain dead idiots, morons and imbeciles.................

[Dilbert San Diego]

Will they put methane sensors on farms and ranches?

[ASOC]

(Snif snif)

Is that methane I smell?

Or FedGov grant money being poured out???

[BuffaloJack]

Ok, so who will be paying for these sensors?
Public money should not be used to bolster hoaxes.

[alloysteel]

Methane as a compound, has a relatively low molecular weight, less than even that of water vapor, and rises quickly into the atmosphere, composed mostly of N2 and O2 molecules, both of which are heavier than either methane or water vapor. But unlike water vapor, as methane is cooled, it never gets cold enough to change its state from gas to liquid or solid state. It just keeps rising and escapes into outer space, much like hydrogen or helium.

If the methane is flared off, it produces water vapor and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide tends NOT to rise in the atmosphere, as its molecular weight is GREATER than the mixture of N2 and O2, but it does readily dissolve in water, where much of it ends up as some form of carbonate mineral. Or it becomes sparkling mineral water.

Remember that while you sip on your Seven-Up - you are swallowing carbon dioxide.

[CedarDave]

Ok, so who will be paying for these sensors?

Article doesn't say but probably donors to the EDF from the likes of Soros and Tom Steyer.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Is flatulence a problem at these locations?

[Grampa Dave]

Will they put methane sensors on cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, goats, dogs, cats and the humans on farms and ranches?

Will any of the above or us be fined for exceeding our daily or hourly methane releases.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Plus, I know that methane is lighter than air and would do more as a greenhouse gas than CO₂ which is heavier than air...so how it it these mental midgets think the CO₂ gets into the upper atmosphere in the first place to create this magical shield that traps heat?

[Dilbert San Diego]

Oh my gosh, sensors on the humans? Better watch what types of food we eat, just saying.

[Cobra64]

Most methane comes from fissures in the ocean floor.

[bgill]

He who smelt it, dealt it.

This just screams HS Senior party.

[CedarDave]

Not in New Mexico, at least not now. The eco-nuts are hoping to use results from the oil/gas industry to bolster controls so as to lower US fossil fuel energy production, which to them is worse than emissions from farms and ranches.

Actually as a concentrated point source, dairy farms and feedlots produce a lot of emissions including methane and ammonia (we have many dairies in the area and when driving by them you close the windows). A quick search shows there are many studies of emissions from the cows and cattle in the US, but I don’t know what percentage of total US methane releases are from them.

[SuperLuminal]

One thing is a guarantee... They have a dozen or so papers with the enhanced (faked/forged) data already written and ready to submit for publication... \

Long live the hockey stick...

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***greenhouse gas emissions***

And to think, back around 1981, POPULAR SCIENCE magazine, I believe, editorialized that they would no longer use the term “Greenhouse Effect” as it was no longer true. We were still in the COMING ICE AGE effect.

[SanchoP]

These are the ‘rats that got DDT banned.

[Wonder Warthog]

“Flaring” does NOT “release methane”. Flaring BURNS methane, and releases CO2 and H2O. DAMN all ignorant journalists!

[CedarDave]

“Flaring” does NOT “release methane”. Flaring BURNS methane, and releases CO2 and H2O. DAMN all ignorant journalists!

They oppose that too! They say by burning it, it wastes a valuable resource that could be sold for money to the state. Presently there is a glut of natural gas here and not yet pipeline capacity to move it to locations for sale. It's all just another move to put a stranglehold on the industry they hate (except for the mega-bucks coming to the state treasury).