Is there too much methane leaking from shale drilling operations and electrical generating plants that burn methane in the Marcellus Shale? A plane ride last summer hopes to help answer that question.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did a fly over of the Marcellus Shale in northeastern PA, along with fly overs in two other major shale plays. They’re still studying the data from they collected. In reading the news story about the study and the fly over, it all appears a bit murky to us. Lots of “estimates” and comparing this study with that study and “top down” and “bottom up” estimates to come up with answers. We like real, hard science. Things you measure–things that are testable and repeatable. Not political science where you spin fanciful theories. Was this fly over and the resulting study the former, or the later? Time will tell…
