Probably the largest methane leak in the world was discovered by a coal mine in Russia, which poured carbon dioxide, the equivalent of five coal-fired power plants.
About 90 tons of methane per hour were released from the mine in January, when the gas was first traced to its source, according to GHGSat, a commercial satellite monitoring company based in Canada. Maintained for a year, this will produce enough natural gas to power 2.4 million homes.
More recently, the mine appears to be flowing at a slower rate, about a third of the highest recorded in January, but the leak is thought to have been active for at least six months before the January survey.
The leak, coming from the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region, Russia’s largest coal mine, is about 50 percent larger than any other leak observed by GHGSat since launching its global satellite monitoring in 2016. The company believes that is larger than any leak but traced to a single source.
Brody White, director of energy, landfills and mines at GHGSat, said methane is a often overlooked side effect of coal mining, which adds to the climate impact of coal burning. The Raspadskaya leak would add about 25% to the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired coal production, he calculated.
“We are seeing an increase in methane from this site as a whole, which may be the result of increased coal production linked to global trends in coal use,” he said.
Russia is one of the world’s largest sources of methane from fossil fuels. The country’s gas infrastructure, including production facilities and pipelines, is known to be leaking, despite calls for the government to take action.
Paul Bledsoe, a former Bill Clinton adviser at the White House and now at the Institute for Progressive Politics in Washington, said: “Deep methane cutting is the only sure way to limit short-term temperatures and prevent rapid climate change, but every month brings new evidence that Russia is hiding the world’s most massive and destructive methane leaks. Putin is desperately hiding these huge emissions so he can continue to profit from sales of Russian coal, oil and gas and fund his war regime. But nations like China, which continue to buy Putin’s oil and gas, are equally supportive of his climate and war crimes.
All underground coal mines produce methane, which can cause explosions if accumulated. An explosion at the Raspadskaya mine in 2010 killed 66 people.
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Methane leaks can be made for safety reasons. However, there are ways to capture methane when it is produced at high speed, or to release it by oxidation so that it causes less damage to the climate.
Methane is about 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, although it decomposes in the atmosphere in about 20 years. In February, the International Energy Agency warned that most countries were not reporting their methane emissions and that the actual emissions into the atmosphere were much higher than previously thought.
Recent studies show that reducing methane may be one of the fastest ways to curb rising global temperatures, and that sharp cuts could now prevent an increase of about 0.25 C by 2050.
Drwood Zaelke, president of the Washington-based Institute of Management, said the leak from Raspadskaya indicated an urgent need for action. “It is crucial to create a comprehensive satellite methane monitoring system. We also need to develop a system of incentives and sanctions that can correct these emissions, focusing first on super emitters, “he said.
The IEA also found that at the current high gas prices, the cost of capturing methane is much lower than the cost of using or selling methane as a fuel source, which should give companies and governments an incentive to capture gas, instead of dropping or burning.
At the UN Cop26 Climate Summit in Glasgow last November, more than 100 countries agreed to reduce their methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030. However, Russia was not among them.
GHGSat said it measured 13 different methane jets, ranging in size from 658 to 17,994 kg per hour, from the mine. The discovery was made on January 22, but the company took the time to verify its findings and contact the mine operator, who did not respond.
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