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Colorado Energy Institute works to reduce methane emissions, bring jobs to rural areas

An investment from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for Colorado organizations could help reduce methane emissions from oil and gas 80% by 2038. 

"Energy demand isn't dropping off," said Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University's Energy Institute Dan Zimmerle.

That's why Zimmerle believes finding ways to dull existing fossil fuel energy sources across Colorado is imperative. He also runs the Methane Emissions Technologies Evaluation Center or METEC, which does research on oil and gas.

Colorado State University
The three funded methane emissions research projects are connected through the Colorado State University Energy Institute at the Powerhouse Energy Campus in Fort Collins. John Eisele/Colorado State University

For one of the projects receiving $300 million, he's targeting marginal wells. These are wells that are mid-life. They are still producing, but there is less attention focused on them because owners have less financial means to put in as reservoir pressure declines. Marginal conventional wells disproportionately leak high methane emissions, according to the EPA. That's where Zimmerle comes in.

In December, the EPA and DOE announced approximately $850 million for 43 projects, including seven in Colorado and Wyoming. Funding will help small oil and gas operators, Tribes, and other organizations reduce, monitor and quantify methane emissions.    

We're working to "understand how leak detection processes work," says Zimmerle, because "every high producing well today will be marginal in 20 years." 

In order to mitigate leaks, project teams are doing this "exactly the same way you fix your screen door: You go look at it. [Say] 'I need a new seal.' Put the seal in. Close the door and make sure it's sealed." Only Zimmerle checks out large-scale well sites and has to go through much more bureaucracy than just driving to a hardware store.

Leaks can be unintended coming from equipment failures, says the EPA, and some leaks are built in as a way to vent the wells. Either way, "methane here being released or methane in China being released, is going to ultimately have the same impact on the climate, " Zimmerle tells CBS Colorado.

And because these projects are happening outside of densely populated areas, it's not just reductions in emissions that's going on. "It's a small fraction, but part of the project is community outreach and bringing those workforce engagement opportunities to rural areas."

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Colorado State University's Powerhouse Energy Campus on January 7, 2025. © Vance Jacobs Vance Jacobs

"A lot of the leak detection [work] is boots on the ground," says research scientist Anna Hodshire. "Many methods, including ones approved by the EPA, require someone to walk into [and around] the facility. That job isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So the more we can train for that, the better."

Hodshire is also leading a project, which is receiving $20 million, to create a methane emissions inventory. "Understanding exactly where the emission is coming from and why it's happening is the most effective [way] toward mitigating future emissions." This will help oil and gas operators design facilities more efficiently.

Measuring emissions is "a rapidly evolving space," she says. Some ways to do that are using planes with LiDAR attached, having a monitor on the ground to track emissions downwind from a facility, and putting instruments in a van and driving around. Hodshire is testing these methods here in Colorado, but there are many across the country that are also testing other methods.

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Colorado State University's Powerhouse Energy Campus on January 7, 2025. © Vance Jacobs Vance Jacobs

"Part of what we do here is to demonstrate what can be done everywhere," says Zimmerle.

Pioneer Energy Inc. in Lakewood is receiving $17 million for three projects and Blue Mountain Operations in Wyoming is getting nearly $4 million. With these projects, the EPA says methane emissions can diminish significantly into the next decade than without the projects.

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