Opinion: To regulate methane emissions, Colorado needs clear data

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Jim Crompton and Jennifer Miskimins write about how greenhouse gas reporting from upstream oil and gas production isn’t new; it’s been required in the United States and Canada since 2010. The long-accepted method of understanding these emissions from industrial sources is a well-established process based on estimates.  But recent academic studies have cast doubt on the accuracy of this approach. Now, regulatory agencies are moving towards measuring and moving away from estimating emissions.  Yet simply collecting data on methane is not enough. We need to understand the context of where measurements are taken from production operations, what the limitations of new measurement technologies are, and how to use data to tell an accurate and actionable story.  February 15, 2023.