California not counting methane leaks from idle wells

BY DREW COSTLEY
AP Science Writer

After 21 idle wells were found to be leaking methane — some of them explosive levels of it — in Bakersfield, California in May and June, the California Air Resources Board told the Associated Press that it’s not tallying leaks from idle wells. That means officials can’t include those leaks in their total emissions counts. That’s significant because methane is a potent greenhouse gas and law requires the state to ramp down all of its carbon emissions to zero. The state plans to use new satellite sensors to get a count. And a new proposal in the US Senate would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to address this issue nationwide.