Williams Cos., one of the biggest transporters of natural gas in the U.S., said an intentional release of a powerful greenhouse gas detected by satellite was caused by work on one of its pipelines. The cloud of methane, which is the primary component of natural gas and traps 84 times more heat than carbon dioxide over its first couple of decades in the atmosphere, was spotted over Georgia on Dec. 14 by a European Space Agency satellite. Geoanalytics firm Kayrros SAS analyzed the data and estimated an emissions rate of 14 tons of methane an hour was needed to generate the plume. If the release lasted an hour at that clip, it would have the same short-term climate impact as the annual emissions from 255 cars in the U.S. When contacted by Bloomberg, Williams said it was responsible for the release, which occurred when it upgraded its Transcontinental pipeline […]