As the climate crisis worsens, Pitkin County is working with a group of local stakeholders to capture a large amount of methane that’s been leaking out of abandoned coal mines in the Coal Basin area above the town of Redstone.
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As mines close, they leave behind a troubling legacy: leaking methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In November, over 100 countries committed to taking the problem more seriously, pledging to cut methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. North Fork Valley entrepreneur Chris Caskey is already a step ahead, using his business, Delta Brick and Climate Company, to address methane emissions while tackling other environmental problems. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s series on fossil fuel transition, KVNF’s Stephanie Maltarich reports.
As mines close, they leave behind a troubling legacy: leaking methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In November, over 100 countries committed to taking the problem more seriously, pledging to cut methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. North Fork Valley entrepreneur Chris Caskey is already a step ahead, using his business, Delta Brick and Climate Company, to address methane emissions while tackling other environmental problems. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s series on fossil fuel transition, KVNF’s Stephanie Maltarich reports.
Eric Edwards, right, Tom Vessels and Eugene Vessels, in rear, inspect one of the generators at the Elk Creek mine on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The generator uses the captured methane gas to create electricity which then goes into the power grid.
Miguel Otárola/CPR News and is republished here by permission.
The Elk Creek mine above the town of Somerset may have closed years ago, but methane gas still silently seeps out of its collapsed walls and into the atmosphere.
Tom Vessels, a former gas executive turned entrepreneur, is on a mission to eliminate that gas from closed or abandoned mines and prove doing so can slow down global warming.