Older U.S. east coast cities are leaking nine times
as much natural gas into the air — from homes
or pipes heading into houses — than the federal
government had thought, a new airborne
monitoring study finds.
It’s probably not a safety problem because
what’s coming out doesn’t reach explosive
concentrations, but the extra methane heading
into the air is a climate change issue, said study
co-author University of Michigan atmospheric
scientist Eric Kort.
Scientists flew a National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration airplane over New
York City, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston,
Baltimore and Providence, Rhode Island, for
1,200 hours in 2018 and found lots more
methane. They couldn’t tell if the methane, a
potent greenhouse gas, was leaking from inside
homes or the pipes leading to homes.