Scientists from the Environmental Defense Fund and Harvard University have designed a satellite, MethaneSAT, that will reveal the biggest methane polluters in the oil and gas industry. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that’s released into the environment from farms, landfills and leaky fossil fuel equipment, currently accounts for one-third of global warming. The satellite was launched Monday from California.
“Soon, there will be no place to hide,” said Ben Cahill, a climate expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security think tank. “There’s going to be a lot of public data on methane emissions, so companies will have very strong incentives to figure out the problem and fix it.”
MethaneSAT differs from the handful of other satellites that monitor methane emissions because it can cover a larger territory and gather detailed data that can determine the sources of emissions. That data can be of use to efforts such as the EPA’s “Super Emitter Program,” which allows third-party reporting of big methane plumes to federal regulators.
“Industry is going to have to explain what happens on their sites … and what are they doing to fix it,” said Carrie Jenks, who heads Harvard’s Environmental & Energy Law Program.
