I have seen it happen several times where it was considered illegal to use waste methane (for example, to run a generator) because the operator was unable to ge

I have seen it happen several times where it was considered illegal to use waste methane (for example, to run a generator) because the operator was unable to get a permit to do so. The reasoning is that small scale power generation produces other pollutants (NOx, etc) that are even more tightly regulated than the methane. This plant still should have been able to secure a permit to flare the methane (thus converting it to CO2 + soot) which would at least be better for global warming than releasing the methane directly