Methane emissions in Four Corners 80 percent higher than EPA estimates, study says

A study by NASA and the University of Michigan published on Thursday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters says that levels of methane in the Four Corners area where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona connect are 80 percent higher than Environmental Protection Agency estimates, Seth Borenstein reports for the San Francisco Chronicle. (NASA photo: Four Corners is a major hot spot for methane emissions)

The high level of methane "is likely leakage from pumping methane out of coal mines," Borenstein writes. Data taken from 2003 to 2009 "found atmospheric methane concentrations equivalent to emissions of about 1.3 million pounds a year."

"The amount of methane in the Four Corners—an area covering about 2,500 square miles—would trap more heat in the atmosphere than all the carbon dioxide produced yearly in Sweden," Borenstein writes. "That's because methane is 86 times more potent for trapping heat in the short-term than carbon dioxide." (Read more)