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Researchers at Portland State University have just released a new methane study, which claims that emissions from fossil fuel development stayed relatively stable in the 1980s and 1990s but increased from 2000 to 2009.

To be quite frank, it’s difficult to see the modern relevance of this study, considering that it blames all fossil fuels for methane emissions, but doesn’t explain which specific sources are responsible. Further, its data only run through 2009, and its vague findings are contradicted by peer-reviewed research that attributes higher methane emissions to biogenic sources, rather than energy production.

Here are a few quick things to know:

Fact #1: Evaluates all fossil fuels together without making any distinction regarding what fuel might be increasing  

The researchers claim,

“We present strong evidence that methane emissions from fossil fuel sectors were approximately constant in the 1980s and 1990s but increased significantly between 2000 and 2009.” (p. 1)

But the researchers give no indication of how much methane is being emitted from natural gas or coal production when making this statement, even though the emissions from each type of fuel would be dramatically different. They would also have discrepancies in different countries. For instance, as the researchers note, much of the increase can be attributed to “increased [coal] mining in China.”

The bottom line is that anyone looking at this study to determine if methane emissions affect natural gas’ climate impact would not be able to find any answers, since that data simply aren’t available within the report.

Fact #2: A recent NOAA study comes to exactly the opposite conclusion finding biogenic sources, rather than fossil fuels, are responsible for increased methane emissions

A study recently released by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand (NIWAR) found that oil and natural gas producers are not to blam...