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EPA announces enforcement effort to look for methane in Permian Basin

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it will

conduct helicopter overflights to look for methane “super emitters” in

the nation’s largest oil and gas producing region. EPA’s Region 6

headquarters in Dallas, Texas, issued a news release about a new

enforcement effort in the Permian Basin on Monday, saying the flights

would occur over the next two weeks. The announcement came four days

after The Associated Press published an investigation that showed 533

oil and gas facilities in the region are emitting excessive amounts of

methane and named the companies most responsible. Colorless and

odorless, methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps 83 times more

heat in the atmosphere over a 20 year period than an equivalent amount

of carbon dioxide.