They account for a minuscule amount of U.S. oil and gas production, but new research found low-producing oil and gas wells have a large methane footprint.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for at least one-quarter of current global warming. According to the report, the country's 565,000 low-production well sites are responsible for a combined four million metric tons of methane, or nearly half of all U.S. methane emissions.

Tracy Sabetta, an organizer for Moms Clean Air Force in Ohio, explained a huge share, 30%, comes from the Appalachian Basin, which includes Ohio.

"With Ohio having as many oil and gas producing wells as we do, it is a pollutant that we just can't ignore," Sabetta asserted. "In fact, our state has the second-highest number of individuals who live within a half-mile of an oil and natural gas producing facility."

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering new standards to reduce oil and gas methane emissions, but operators producing lower emissions would be exempt.

Mark Omara, senior analyst for the Environmental Defense Fund and the study's lead author, said the bulk of emissions from low-production natural gas sites is the result of prolonged negligence by operators.

"Rusted pipes from which leaks occur, pressure-relief valves that malfunction, open-thief hatches on tanks that continue to vent," Omara outlined. "All of these issues can be fixed via regular monitoring and leak inspection and repair."

Sabetta suggested it is in the best interest of the oil and gas industry to address methane leaks, as about 10% of low-production well sites are less than 10 years old.

"If you look at prices from 2019, there's more than $700 million in wasted natural gas," Sabetta pointed out. "That is enough to supply over 3.6 million homes in the U.S. annually, or to power every single home in Ohio."

An earlier analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund found the vast majority of low-production wells are owned by major companies with the financial resources to reduce energy waste.

Virginia has some of the fastest-eroding coastline in the U.S, so an effort at one federal agency is bringing new focus to the region.

Inside the Commerce Department lies NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In recent years, NOAA has designated Habitat Focus Areas in select locations around the country to attempt to restore coastal habitats.

The newest area is Virginia's Middle Peninsula, and Andrew Larkin - a senior program analyst with NOAA Fisheries in Virginia - explained why.

"The Middle Peninsula was selected because it's an area that's experiencing some impacts from climate change," said Larkin. "It's an area that's experiencing a lot of flooding, and they've seen some decline in their seafood industry."

The sudden loss of infrastructure during large storms is easy to see, with washed-out highways, rail lines and utilities. But the longer-term economic impacts of habitat loss are harder to spot.

Habitat Focus Areas help to bring resources from different levels of government to bear on problems that may be too big for local governments to handle.

Efforts to slow coastal erosion in the past were often limited to concrete or rock structures like bulkheads or riprap shorelines. In some areas of the Middle Peninsula, NOAA is stabilizing the coast using so-called "living shorelines."

Larkin described how they incorporate plants and marine life to create sustainable and stable shore conditions.

"By using things like plants or oyster structures - so we're talking marsh grass or things like oyster castles - these are concrete structures which oysters adhere to, and then the oysters provide kind of a wave break," said Larkin. "So, when you've got waves that are kind of pounding a shoreline, these will kind of break up and weaken those waves. And the plants behind them, the marsh grass, will help to trap the sediment to prevent erosion from happening."

Changes to shore ecosystems often have a direct impact on jobs connected to fishing and tourism, and communities see their tax base eroded as residents and businesses leave. So, efforts to stabilize shorelines are not only seen as helping the environment but making local communities more resilient.

Lewie Lawrence, executive director of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, said it's about striking a balance.

"We've got to try to figure out how do we find balance and parity," said Lawrence. "If you put too much development pressure on one side, you cause too much environmental damage. If you protect too much on one side, you're losing the ability to generate economic revenue, which is needed to make government function through tax revenue."

More information on NOAA Habitat Focus Areas is online at www.habitatblueprint.noaa.gov

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Conservation groups along several states on the East coast stretching from North Carolina to northeast Florida are working through a plan to conserve one million acres of salt marsh nearly the size of Grand Canyon National Park.

When it comes to Mother Nature, state boundaries are non-existent - so environmental groups, scientists, native communities and state and federal agencies are working together on the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative Project.

It's a voluntary, collaborative plan to help states protect channels of coastal grasslands that do more than meets the eye.

Kent Smith - a biological administrator with the Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - said salt marshes are extremely good at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere by forming a thick peat to trap the CO2 in the sediments below.

"They also stabilize the shorelines in coast areas," said Smith. "So they keep sediments in place and they protect properties from the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise, tropical storms, things like that."

Smith said coastal development threatens the natural protections salt marshes provide, and their hope is to spread awareness so communities and developers can work together to protect these natural habitats.

Jim McCarthy - president of the North Florida Land Trust - is part of the initiative and works to buy salt marshes to preserve and protect them. He said manmade solutions to protect areas from things like storm surges don't always work.

He said one example is in Jacksonville, where marsh grasses were taken out of an area and replaced with concrete bulkheads. He said that was disastrous during Hurricane Irma.

"And as the St. Johns River turns east," said McCarthy, "it literally went over its banks because there is nothing to make the energy out of it and there is nothing to absorb it, if you will, as there would be if you had had natural marsh grasses. "

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the U.S. loses 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands, including salt marshes, each year, driven by development and sea-level rise.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

West Virginia has received federal Infrastructure Bill funding to complete the Corridor H Highway, a four-lane route beginning in Tucker County and connecting with Interstate 81 in Strasburg, Virginia.

Some environmental groups and local residents argued the project's current route could disrupt wildlife habitat and local economies based on outdoor recreation and tourism.

Hugh Rogers, board member and chair of the highways committee for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said small towns around Blackwater Falls would feel the impact from increased traffic and congestion.

"The people on the mountain who live in Thomas and Davis, they don't want a four-lane slamming right between their towns," Rogers emphasized. "And causing a whole different kind of development probably from the kind that has been very successful."

More than 120 miles of Corridor H is now open, with around 30 miles left to complete, according to the West Virginia Department of Transportation. The state maintains the project will open up remote areas in Grant, Tucker and Hardy counties to economic development and shorten travel times through the mountains.

But Rogers countered the outdoor tourism small businesses and residents have worked to build up around Blackwater Falls is at stake. He pointed out travelers come to the area to escape major development.

"And there's just all this opportunity for recreation," Rogers explained. "As you know, mountain biking is very big around here. Lots of hiking, of course. Rafting and kayaking on the river, it's just a wonderful playground"

He added nearly 2,000 residents have signed an online petition calling for the highway's path to be diverted from the Blackwater region to an alternate route.

"For years, people thought, we have to take whatever the Department of Highways gives us; we just 'want' the changes that it will bring," Rogers noted. "Now, more and more people are getting the idea that we don't have to settle for a lousy version of this."

Research from the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance shows the highway could potentially impact threatened and endangered species such as Cheat Mountain salamander, Indiana bat, Virginia big-eared bat and West Virginia flying squirrel.