Following the issuance of the Clean Power Plan, EPA’s well-publicized regulation aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from the power plants, the agency has shifted its focus to reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector in order to further reduce the anthropogenic contribution to global climate change. Methane, while emitted in much lesser quantities, is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, estimated to be around 25 times more harmful than its more widely known counterpart. Today, based on millions of dollars in grants for research, leak detection and monitoring technology may be ready to make a giant leap forward.
