Coal company looks to trap methane from mines before government regulation increases

Consol Energy Inc., once known as Consolidation Coal Co., is working on a project to trap and consume methane gas, a mining byproduct that can trigger underground explosions and add significantly to global warming. "Consol's project is one of only a handful around the world, but is expected to be replicated as mining companies seek to capture greenhouse gas in order to sell carbon-offset credits to utilities and others," Kris Maher of The Wall Street Journal reports. Similar projects have been launched in China and Australia, the world's No. 1 and No. 4 coal producers.

"What really triggered this project and moved it forward was the potential to sell carbon offsets," Steve Winburg, Consol's vice president for research and development, told Maher. Consol plans to sell carbon credits to a utility to cover the project's $5 million cost and expects to turn a profit on it as early as this year. The project, which is run with Consol development partner Verdeo Group Inc., is located at Consol's McElroy Mine south of Wheeling, W.Va. Each year it is expected to capture and consume methane with the greenhouse-gas potential of 230,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

"Coal mines have traditionally vented methane into the atmosphere, which raises environmental concerns, because it is 21 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide," Maher writes. "Coal mine ventilation systems are the biggest source of methane emissions, accounting for 81 billion cubic feet, or 51 percent of coal-mine methane emissions in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency."  Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said some in the industry believe the relatively low priority the federal government has placed on regulating methane may "be about to change." (Read more)