[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Sorry, but there ARE a lot of mines and oil & gas wells out there. Look up "San Juan Basin", for instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Basin or Peabody Coal's Black Mesa mining operations.

The only problem is the mines out there are not under or near the methane cloud.
There is one mine near the methane cloud but it is defiantly not a coal mine, out that way, if its not a coal mine, then its likely a uranium mine.
Under and near the methane cloud there are no oil fields, no pump jacks, no gas lines to be seen. All that is about 100 miles further east of what the satellite picked up.
There is an unusual geologic formation almost directly under the cloud and a little to the west, looks like the surface of the moon. That is where I bet it is coming from.
I have been told that there is one place out that way some were on an Indian reservation where the ground can be lit on fire because there is so much gas seeping up out of it.

Since there were no methane detecting satellites up there before any oil or gas recovery operations started, to blame it on mans activities at this point is only pure speculation. There is sand stone on top of the shale and coal the gas likely leaks out all on its own.

Even the wiki article says that NASA researchers reported "the source is likely from established gas, coal".
Its NASA you think they would be smart enough to figure out which mine, gas or oil operation is releasing the methane and get the EPA to stop it.
I think if there was a man made source releasing the methane the EPA would be over there in no time flat to fine the offender until they went out of business.