Coal Basin Methane Project

While CORE currently focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment, we are constantly pursuing high-impact opportunities that show the greatest potential and return on investment for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

In 2021, CORE was connected to the research that Delta Brick and Climate Company was doing to evaluate the amount of methane escaping the abandoned coal mines in Redstone, Colorado, and the climate impacts of those emissions. Two reports, one from the EPA and one from the Colorado Energy Office, estimated that the mines could be emitting significant amounts of methane. 

The reports indicated that mitigating those emissions could result in one of the most significant greenhouse gas reductions in our communities, propelling us closer to achieving our climate action goals.

Depending on the type of mitigation approach, estimated costs to mitigate are between $5 million to $7 million.

A regenerative thermal oxidizer is a common piece of equipment used to destroy methane and other hydrocarbons. Methane is funneled from holes and fissures in the ground through the RTO, heated within the system to destroy it, and released as carbon dioxide.

Since methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, converting the methane to carbon dioxide equates to a better climate action solution than methane continuing to escape into the atmosphere.

The Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) could stay in place destroying methane for as long as 20 years. When the equipment reaches the end of its life, it will be removed and the area reclaimed.

The equipment produces noise from its blower and the noise would be minimized with noise dampening systems. The RTO is about the size of a shipping container (30x10x20 feet) and would be supported by a concrete foundation. 

The RTO would be placed at the Dutch Creek #1 mine and require transportation services to install and maintain the equipment. Thus, the service road to the mine would be reconstructed.

The newly opened road would follow the same path as the previous service road and be smaller in width at an estimated 14 feet. In addition, an electrical line or generator would be required to operate the RTO.

Bioremediation is a technique in which a specific type of bacteria, known as methanotrophs, eat methane and turn it into carbon dioxide and biomass, a renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals.

The methane would be routed through a bioreactor where the bacteria would eat the methane and produce the carbon dioxide and biomass.

The bioreactors resemble 55-gallon drums interconnected by pipes to a series of other 55-gallon drums. 

No pumps would be placed on the mine void. A small pipe and blower could be used to help direct the methane and circulate it through the bioreactor.  

Horses would be used to transport the equipment to the site. The equipment will be monitored and remain in place as long as it is effective.

Methane (CH4) is made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. When methane (CH4)  from coal mines runs through an RTO and is combusted, it becomes an exhaust of water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The exhaust is then routed through several large, long horizontal pipes that allow the exhaust to cool and the water vapor to condense. 

At Coal Basin, water condensed from the RTO exhaust would be used to re-establish vegetation in the impacted areas.

When the mines were closed, operators were required by state and federal law to remove any harmful materials that resulted in mining operations. The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety oversaw this process, and no harmful materials are expected. The methane mitigation project team does not intend to conduct operations deep into the mine.

The RTO would be placed at the Dutch Creek #1 mine and require transportation services to place and maintain the equipment. Thus, the service road to the mine would be reconstructed. The newly opened road would follow the same path as the previous service road and be smaller in width at an estimated 14 feet. Roads to other mines will remain closed.

Methane is estimated to be 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Since methane is considered more harmful than carbon dioxide, converting the methane to carbon dioxide equates to a better climate action solution than methane continuing to escape into the atmosphere.

The project team intends to mitigate approximately 400 metric tons of methane from Coal Basin each year. This is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions released from about 3,400 fuel-powered vehicles driven for a year. The project would go on for 20 years.

Based on the methane release data gathered from Coal Basin in the summer of 2023, the methane escaping from the abandoned coal mines would be more harmful to the environment over the long term than the impacts that implementing the project could cause.

The project's impacts could include:

• Reconstructing the road and displacing the vegetation currently in that space.
• Noise could be generated during the road reconstruction and equipment installation and the years the equipment would be in operation. 
• There are no anticipated impacts on the water sources in the area. 

The amount of methane emitted from Coal Basin doesn’t directly change the current environment. However, the cumulative impacts of methane release from this and other sources do contribute to accelerated climate change impacts such as wildfires and drought, which could have a large impact on the Coal Basin area.  

Additionally, the State of Colorado values the social cost of carbon at $1,756 per short metric ton. CORE spends approximately $591 per MTCO2e to allocate rebates and assessments to the community. Mitigating methane at Coal Basin would cost approximately half of what it costs to implement other climate action solutions in our area.

Mitigating methane emissions at Coal Basin would be one of the most significant opportunities for greenhouse gas reduction in our communities. We estimate that 1,950 metric tons of methane are escaping from Coal Basin each year. That’s equivalent to 36,456 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year or nearly 33% of all the other emission sources in Pitkin County combined.

Destroying even a small percentage of the methane in the area could propel us closer to achieving our local, regional, state, and federal climate action goals.

Further, if we do not mitigate the existing methane emissions, those emissions will continue to escape into our atmosphere for another 30 years, continuing to have long-term effects on our environment. 

The cost of mitigating methane at Coal Basin has one of the lowest financial costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our community, yielding the greatest return on investment compared to other greenhouse gas emission reduction initiatives. 

Climate action is a collective responsibility. This project brings together key federal, state, local, public, and corporate stakeholders to protect our environment and restore and preserve our public lands.

Colorado State University (CSU) received a grant from the Catena Foundation to serve as an independent researcher to parallel the on-the-ground methane data-gathering effort conducted at Coal Basin by Delta Brick and Climate Company.

CSU scientists took their measurements during two field seasons between 2022 and 2023. The CSU study estimates that approximately 400 metric tons of methane escape annually from the Dutch Creek #1 Mine main portal. CSU’s analysis of the data CORE received from Scientific Aviation suggests that the whole Coal Basin system releases nearly 2,000 metric tons of methane annually.

CORE, Delta Brick & Climate Company, and CSU have reached the same conclusions regarding the amount of methane escaping from Coal Basin.

The project team would work alongside the US Forest Service and environmental engineering consultants to prevent erosion from occurring along the road. Potential solutions include installing culverts, straw wattles, and water bars. 

The RTO would be placed at the Dutch Creek #1 mine portal and require trucks to haul the equipment to the site. We anticipate that a construction crew could make several trips along the road per day during installation and installation could take several months. 

Once installed, the project will enter a troubleshooting phase which would include one to two round trips per day. Once fully operational, trucks could continue to make one to two trips to the site per month via the service road. In addition, an electrical line or generator would be required to operate the RTO.

Yes. The equipment manufacturer has experience operating RTOs in cold climates and has assured the project team that the equipment would be reliable in our mountain conditions. Once installed, the equipment would be monitored remotely so that if any malfunction were to occur, the project team would be notified and be able to respond accordingly.

Yes. The equipment manufacturer has experience operating RTOs in cold climates and has assured the project team that the equipment would be reliable in our mountain conditions. Once installed, the equipment would be monitored remotely so that if any malfunction were to occur, the project team would be notified and be able to respond accordingly. 

Mine portals at Dutch Creek #1 Mine and Dutch Creek #2 Mine would be sealed with polyurethane foam so that methane could be directed into a pipe that would feed into the RTO.

If the project team were to place covers over the portal, the methane would continue to seep out of the ground from other locations for decades more. Methane is lighter than air and can escape from small cracks and crevices. There are numerous small leak sites in the area, so properly sealing the portals for gathering and destroying the methane would yield the best results.

A source of electricity would be required to operate the RTO.  We intend to install an electrical transmission line that would be connected to an existing line and follow the road up to the RTO site.

Upon the US Forest Service (USFS) accepting our project application, the project would require review using the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. Projects subject to NEPA review are evaluated for environmental and related social and economic effects of their proposed actions.