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Colorado is about to start measuring how much methane pollution the state's oil and gas operations release into the atmosphere. The Colorado Sun reports that the Air Quality Control Commission adopted methane intensity regulations last July, and finalized protocols for how to measure methane earlier this month.
Until now, oil and gas regulations have been focused on detecting leaks and fugitive emissions from oil and gas operations. The new rule goes further, and is designed to measure all methane emissions across the industry. By law, Colorado has to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050.
The first count of Colorado methane emissions is expected by the end of this year. Under the protocol, the state will measure emissions from nine counties in the Front Range, three counties on the West Slope, and calculate an emission level for the rest of the state, excluding Tribal lands.
“There was no method to quantify methane emissions,” said the Environmental Defense Fund's Nini Gu. “We have all these statutory emission targets, but how do we know if we are on track to meeting those targets if we aren’t quantifying those emissions.”
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Unfortunately, despite the popularity and benefits of the final Public Lands Rule, Utah’s Rep. John Curtis and his anti-public lands partners in the House recently pushed legislation that will keep the scales 
