For 17 months in 2025 and 2026, the Planet Labs Tanager 1 satellite trained its NASA-designed spectrometer on northwest Louisiana as part of a UCLA Law methane project, aimed at identifying the largest sources of the potent heat-trapping gas.
What it found was sobering. Less than 10 miles south of Shreveport was the location of possibly the largest methane release in the U.S. at a midstream site owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer. This “super emitter” site wasn’t the only one. The UCLA Law study pointed to four more nearby owned by Aethon, Energy Transfer, Black Bear Midstream and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners.
The Energy Transfer plume came from a site just off La. 1 near the Caddo Parish line. The land there is ground zero for midstream pipeline facilities for the prolific Haynesville Shale and Bossier Shale natural gas. They are run by Energy Transfer, Momentum/Williams, Kinder Hawk and others…