Grist: UC researcher tracks down neglected methane leaks

Townsend-Small, an assistant professor in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, has been studying methane leaks in the petrochemical industry from Ohio to California. While natural gas burns cleaner than coal, it has one serious drawback: methane that leaks from transport and extraction, Grist reported.

Knowing how much methane seeps out of the ground at wells or from pipelines can help policymakers understand the untold impact that natural gas has on greenhouse gas emissions, Grist reported.

“That sort of catalyzed a giant push for more research on methane emissions across the whole supply chain,” Townsend-Small told Grist.

In a 2018 study in the journal Science, Townsend-Small found that more than 2 percent of natural gas extracted in the United States escaped into the atmosphere or groundwater. This was far higher than estimates compiled at the time by federal regulators.

And Townsend-Small found many sources of leaks belong to wells long abandoned by responsible parties. 

“If you want to make a big impact, you only have to fix the big leakers,” Townsend-Small told Grist.

Read the Grist story.