Change in gas industry could be hopeful

I attended the Bureau of Land Management meeting in Farmington due to concern regarding the methane hotspot over the four corners. Although arguments from two seemingly opposed sides advanced little, useful thoughts from both were voiced. My takeaways are first, that energy workers (fossil fuel or solar and wind) cannot rest on expectations to perform the same jobs over and over. Our world is ever changing with fluctuating energy markets, evolving technology, and information on man's relation to our climate. Old job loss, migration to new jobs and retraining will occur. Farmington, far from turning into a ghost town, could be ripe for an economy boosted by the manpower needed for change.

Ecology proponents might also accept that cessation of all fossil fuels use and misuse may not happen in this conflicted world as fast as we or our planet's survival require or wish. It is true that some methane leakage is from livestock, coal mining and mother Earth. However, for the leakage due to gas and oil operations our local industry and communities and broader planet would only benefit from smart action.

One speaker who performs professional infrared photo analysis of gas and oil wells nationwide, gave witness that the well operations in the Four Corners area have a much higher leakage rate than in all other areas. Four neighboring states are putting safeguards similar to the BLM proposals into place. Happily, they are all significantly reducing leakage while turning even more community and industry profit than before.

Via radio and satellite transponders, the gas industry does have access to feed instant, real-time data on leakage beyond the periodic manual inspections modestly put forward by the BLM after 40 years of no regulation upgrade.

This could boost profits and avoid the vagaries of periodic manual inspectors from a BLM that is already understaffed in this area.

We could all come together to work smarter, not harder, for our collective future. Hope (whether for employment, local economy, human survival or personal health) is a terrible thing to waste.

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