Big Methane Cloud Seen Over US State Where Tiny Release Reported

It all started with an apparent mistake. Alarms at Tallgrass Energy’s Douglas Gas Plant in Wyoming were triggered by high oxygen levels after a maintenance project didn’t go as planned. The operator told regulators it vented a total of about 2.1 metric tons of methane in five separate safety releases.

A satellite passing over the US state, however, observed a methane cloud 4.6 miles (7.4 km) long emanating from the location, which scientists estimated was spewing the planet-warming gas at a rate of 76 to 184 metric tons an hour. Because NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite orbits the Earth, the researchers who studied the data couldn’t verify how long the release lasted or calculate the total amount ...