HUGE methane cloud over New Mexico

[cowmeat]

In other news. People still use AOL?!

AOL makes the world's finest coasters!

[oil pan 4]

Just read another article about this today on yahoo.
They still have no idea what the source is.
Still just blaming it on oil/gas extraction and coal mining that does not exist.

NASA has air craft that can sample and analyze atmospheric trace gases in real time. They could use that to narrow the methane emission down to at least a zip code then contract natural gas auditors to the offending area with hand held methane sniffers. (your local gas company hires gas auditors, people who do this for a living to come in to an area and find all the tiny to moderate leaks in gas lines and ID leaky meters every year or 2)

So this problem could easily be solved with existing programs and equipment.
But for some reason doing nothing seems to be the better option.
Must be more politically fulfilling to blame oil/gas extraction than risk finding out its natural.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

That might work if there was no wind and the methane was allowed to go straight up.
Problem is that part of the country is very windy. Usually west to east, or south to north.

This. I can't imagine the cloud being stationary, nor can I imagine it not simply dissipating into the atmosphere. And, if it was oil/gas/coal producers, why aren't there methane clouds over Marcus Hook PA and about 10,000 other locations nationwide.

Originally Posted by collkid

In other news. People still use AOL?!

My dad still goes to their home page and uses their webmail. Some of it is inertia, but most of it is the enormous hassle involved in changing one's longstanding email address.

[user removed]

It's burping cattle.

regards
mech

[some_other_dave]

It's the result of eating Mexican food...

-soD

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Blame it on the frijoles refritos and in the chilli con carne

[MobilOne]

I think that it is the "Chick Filet" cows sky writing.

[BobS]

We are out of fossil fuels in 30 +/- years if the Koch brothers get their way. Why not cap the area if feasible and save it for then. And, as MetroMPG shows us, they are just burning gas and using up oxygen, and that gas could simply be left in the ground for use later. Isn't it time the stupid stuff stopped?

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by BobS

... Isn't it time the stupid stuff stopped?

Ha, ha! Sounds like a question about our Gooberment!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Not sure about the technical viability to recover and store that methane cloud, but in 3rd-world countries biomethane recovered from animal manure has been used to power gensets in rural electrification projects.