oil industry dumping methane into the atmosphere

[Unum]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/27/climate/methane-polluters-satellite/index.html

"MethaneSAT’s early findings are that the oil and gas industry is belching the
gas at a rate three to five times higher on average than what the
Environmental Protection Agency has estimated, and way beyond the rate the
industry itself agreed to in 2023.

The Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil and gas basins in the world,
is leaking methane to the tune of 9 to 14.5 times the limit the industry
agreed to — nearly 640,000 pounds per hour. The Appalachia Basin is leaking at
four times the industry-set rate.

And in Utah’s Uinta Basin, the leak rate is an astonishing 45 times the
industry-set limit. Although it’s leaking less overall than the Permian Basin,
for example, it’s an older basin — with older, leaky equipment — that’s
producing far less oil and gas."

[JTEM]

Unum wrote:
[---]

Methane is a "Biosignature," it's one of the chemical
signatures they look for in the atmospheres of distant
worlds as a clue that life may appear there.

For starters, Methane doesn't stay in an atmosphere. It's
far too reactive so it has a short lifespan. Which means
it needs replenishing -- a constant new supply -- and THAT
is evidence for life.

Evidence != Proof

Then there's the fact that we'd be vastly better off, as
a species, if the planet grew warmer.