What grounds do we have to assume that this has a substantial effect compared to the rest of the carbon footprint of Bitcoin?
The word "flaring" in this case indicates burning the methane. Releasing it without burning it is called venting [1].
I question how significant the difference is in the C02 and methane emissions of flaring the non marketable methane directly vs running a natural gas turbine to power a mining facility.
> so their desperation results in many ways to help make mining company presence a sweetheart deal in the energy rates the miners receive.
It seems more like a a way to maximize the profit of or minimize regulatory penalties on the fracking operation, which is a fine business objective, but likely not a significant emissions reduction overall compared to the fracked gas itself. I'd like to see independent numbers comparing C02 and methane emissions associated with flaring vs BTC mining.
1. https://www.energy.gov/fecm/articles/doe-flaring-and-venting....
its a symbiotic relationship at fracking sites, where some byproducts are flared into the atmosphere, this is called flare gas
methane (worse than CO2) and hydrocarbons are flared directly into the atmosphere
bitcoin mining companies move operations on premise and use the gas directly to power their machines before it is flared, thereby reducing emissions. Some but industrial catalyctic converters reduce the emissions substantially, leaving some H2O and some CO2
flare sites have problems growing due to state and federal regulations if their emissions are too high, so their desperation results in many ways to help make mining company presence a sweetheart deal in the energy rates the miners receive. (but they still arent expanding, yet, as they get exemptions from the regulations and are courting miners because of the threat that the exemptions will stop. Currently mining reduces emissions, and this is only a matter of accuracy, criticisms about the possible future of too much mining/fracking equalizing into no net benefit are accurate)
in any case, thats before selling to the grid
which brings me to the next point, there are
1) grid connected flare gas miners
2) non-grid connected flare gas miners
you probably wont find much literature on the 2nd type as they are off the grid
but the 2nd type is also not subject to your form of criticism