Scientific American: Environmental controls designed to prevent leaks of methane from newly drilled natural gas wells are effective, a study has found -- but emissions from existing wells in production are much higher than previously believed.
The findings, reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to a burgeoning debate over the climate impact of replacing oil- and coal-fired power plants with those fuelled by natural gas. Significant leaks of heat-trapping methane from natural gas...