Montrose Aims High on Methane With Safer Ground-Level Emissions Tech

By Carol Moore

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – January 07, 2026 – As global efforts to curb potent greenhouse gases intensify, Montrose Environmental Group (NYSE: MEG) has unveiled a novel technology aimed at one of the most challenging and significant sources of methane pollution: high-volume industrial vents. The company's new patent-pending VeriPlume Capture System™ promises to transform how the oil and gas industry measures these emissions, offering a solution that enhances technician safety, improves data accuracy, and helps operators meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

This innovation arrives at a critical moment. Methane, with a warming potential over 80 times that of carbon dioxide in the short term, is a primary target for rapid climate action. However, accurately quantifying emissions from tall, high-flow vents has long been a dangerous and imprecise task, creating a major blind spot in corporate and national emissions inventories. Montrose’s new system tackles this problem head-on, representing a tangible step forward in the fight against climate change.

A Safer, Smarter Approach to a Major Climate Threat

The core challenge with measuring emissions from high-volume vents lies in their physical location and the nature of the gas flow. Often positioned up to 60 feet above ground on tanks and other equipment, accessing these vents has traditionally required cumbersome man-lifts and exposed technicians to significant fall risks and potential exposure to hazardous gases. The VeriPlume Capture System™ was engineered to eliminate these dangers.

Built from a lightweight, carbon-fiber telescoping structure, the system allows a single technician to stand safely on the ground and extend a capture hood directly over the vent. This design not only removes the need for costly and time-consuming aerial lifts but also fundamentally improves the quality of the data collected. Older methods, which often rely on long, flexible hoses to draw gas samples down to ground-level analyzers, suffer from a critical flaw: friction loss. As gas travels through the hose, its flow can be altered, leading to underestimations of the true emission rate.

VeriPlume’s direct-capture design bypasses this issue, ensuring a more accurate measurement of the plume’s volume and concentration. This enhanced precision is vital, as the company notes that emissions from these vents are consistently larger than the more widely publicized fugitive leaks from valves and connectors. By providing a reliable method for quantification, the technology empowers operators to identify and prioritize the most significant emission sources for repair, maximizing the environmental benefit of their maintenance efforts.

“Reducing methane emissions is one of the fastest, most effective ways to slow rising global temperatures, and innovation is at the heart of that mission,” said Steve Woodard, Chief Innovation Officer at Montrose Environmental Group, in a recent announcement. “The VeriPlume Capture System™ exemplifies how Montrose combines engineering ingenuity with environmental responsibility to deliver solutions that protect the planet, improve technician safety and help our clients meet evolving regulatory requirements.”

Navigating a Tightening Regulatory Landscape

The development of VeriPlume is not just an exercise in engineering; it is a direct response to a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) OOOO-b regulations, part of the New Source Performance Standards, place strict limits on methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. A key provision of these rules requires operators to conduct regular monitoring and repair vents that are emitting excessive volumes of gas.

For many companies, complying with this mandate has been fraught with logistical and technical hurdles. The lack of safe and reliable measurement tools for high-volume vents created a significant compliance gap. Without accurate data, it was difficult to prove that a vent was operating within legal limits or to confirm that a repair had been successful. This regulatory pressure created a clear market need for a solution that was not only accurate but also practical and cost-effective to deploy.

The VeriPlume system is positioned to fill this need perfectly. By enabling faster, safer, and more precise measurements, it provides oil and gas operators with the verifiable data required to demonstrate compliance with EPA rules. This reduces the risk of costly fines and legal action, but it also offers a pathway for companies to strengthen their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials. In an era where investors and the public are demanding greater corporate accountability on climate change, having a robust emissions monitoring program is becoming a business imperative.

An Innovation Engine Driving Environmental Solutions

The VeriPlume system is the latest product to emerge from Montrose’s well-established innovation pipeline. The company, which holds 31 patents and numerous trademarks, has built a reputation for developing proprietary technologies that address complex environmental challenges across air, water, and soil. This strategy of in-house research and development sets it apart in an industry often reliant on third-party equipment.

This portfolio extends far beyond methane. For instance, the company’s SORBIX™ RePURE technology offers a more sustainable method for removing harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or "forever chemicals," from water. Unlike traditional single-use filters that generate significant waste, this system uses a regenerable resin that can be cleaned and reused in place, cutting waste by up to 80% and lowering lifecycle costs for municipalities and industrial clients.

Other notable innovations include the SuperLoader™ technology, which solidifies concentrated PFAS waste to minimize its volume, and a sophisticated Industrial VOC Abatement system that removes and recycles hydrocarbons from industrial vapor streams. This consistent track record of converting scientific research into practical, commercial solutions underscores a corporate philosophy that views environmental problems as engineering challenges to be solved.

The Competitive Edge in a Crowded Field

The market for methane detection is crowded with advanced technologies, including satellite monitoring, aerial surveys, drone-based sensors, and handheld optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras. While each plays a role in the broader ecosystem of emissions management, VeriPlume carves out a specific and critical niche. Most detection technologies are geared toward finding and visualizing leaks over large areas, providing qualitative or semi-quantitative data. They can tell an operator that a facility is leaking, but often struggle to provide the precise flow rate from a specific, high-volume source.

This is where Montrose's system gains its competitive edge. It is not designed for wide-area screening but for the precise, ground-truthed quantification of known emission points. By combining its unique telescoping deployment method with high-fidelity measurement, it provides the "gold standard" data needed for regulatory reporting and for verifying the effectiveness of repairs. It complements, rather than competes with, broader detection methods by providing the detailed follow-up analysis required for action.

This focus on a specific, high-consequence problem demonstrates a deep understanding of the operational realities faced by the energy industry. By creating a tool that solves a safety, regulatory, and data-quality issue simultaneously, Montrose has developed a solution that offers a clear return on investment, moving beyond simple compliance to drive operational excellence. As pressure mounts on the industry to make drastic and verifiable cuts to methane emissions, tools that deliver such multifaceted value will become increasingly indispensable.