Ensolum is proud to announce that our Durango office was awarded the South Fork Methane Mitigation Project by the Department of Colorado Natural Resources, Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC). The State of Colorado has identified the project as a practical opportunity to contribute to the Monitoring and Reducing Methane Emissions as a priority included in a grant to the Colorado Energy Office from the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program. Ensolum will soon begin work to repair, restart, and improve a system designed to mitigate naturally occurring methane seepage from the Fruitland Formation Outcrop at a known seep in La Plata County, Colorado.
The System was originally part of a pilot project to demonstrate that capture of this diffuse methane source was feasible and converted the captured gas to beneficial use (electricity) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local vegetation health. The system also became an important resource for understanding methane seepage. The initial gains and lessons learned during the pilot program have been studied by other entities for successful mitigation of seep emissions from geologic sources in other regions of Colorado and around the world.
This is a personal project for Ensolum, our staff in Durango worked on this methane capture system for 13 years prior to shut down in 2022 due to funding limitations. The renewed interest and funding will allow Ensolum to continue to assist the State of Colorado in its efforts to reduce methane emissions.
