A powerful cloud of planet-warming methane was spotted earlier this month in Oklahoma near multiple pipelines and oil and gas wells. State and federal regulators said they couldn’t identify the source of the methane, which is the primary component of natural gas and traps more than 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. The plume had an estimated emissions rate of 20 tons of methane an hour, according to geoanalytics company Kayrros SAS, which analyzed European Space Agency satellite data. If the release lasted an hour at that rate, it would have had the same short-term climate impact as the annual emissions from about 365 U.S. cars. A release of natural gas above multiple natural gas pipelines (shown in red) in Oklahoma was captured by satellite on Jan. 3. Kayrros estimated the source of the plume was within 3.1 miles (5 […]