sigh

You want to talk about methane emissions? Let's talk about underreported methane emissions.

As you we'll know, natural gas has been the most significant contributor to the US' emissions reductions in recent years. Natural gas use has skyrocketed, supplanting coal because of its "50% reduction in CO2 emissions." This is true at the consumption point, but what's often forgotten is that methane, CH4, is small and leaky, and methane is a much worse GHG than CO2 (~80x worse over 20 years).

What does that mean? A 1.25% leakage rate for methane over the entire extraction/distribution process would double methane's GHG effect. What's a realistic leakage rate, then? Well...

Stanford estimates 9% leakage over the Permian Basin

The EDF estimates methane leakage to be 3.75x to 8x worse than the EPA estimate of 1.2%

Remember that natural gas makes up the most significant part of the US electricity supply (as well as a significant portion of primary energy for heating and industrial applications). Draw conclusions appropriately.

The US is significantly underreporting it's own methane emissions.

Edit: in case it wasn't clear, natural gas is methane