The Permian Basin has a major methane problem

As natural gas production in the Permian Basin grows, so does the amount of methane wasted in the region. 

Methane is a strong climate-warming pollutant and the main component of natural gas. It is also a byproduct of oil production, and there is insufficient infrastructure in the Permian to move all of the methane produced there to market. This leads to operators lighting the gas on fire and flaring it off, as well as releasing it directly into the atmosphere, which is called venting.

The amount of natural gas produced in the basin has nearly tripled since 2018, according to the Energy Information Administration. This has led to increased flaring and venting. The price for gas dipped below zero on March 13 and was still negative as of March 21, exacerbating the amount of methane waste. On top of this increase in venting and flaring, a new study shows oil and gas operations in the Permian are leaking around 9 percent of the gas produced there straight into the atmosphere.

Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management are working on establishing rules to reduce methane waste. The EPA rule, as written, would require regular leak inspections at well sites as well as eventually prohibit routine flaring, while the BLM rule aims to reduce leaks, venting, and flaring by establishing new royalty payments when natural gas is lost from wells on federal land. 

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Beavers belong in California, and they should be part of our fire management plan... They basically build up an ecosystem that’s resilient to fire through the vegetation mosaic, then keep it really well watered so it never dries out, never becomes easy to burn.”

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