Washington (AFP) – Flaring — burning off unwanted natural gas from oil and gas wells — releases five times more of the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere over the United States than previously assumed, according to a study published Thursday. The result is a far greater impact on climate change, with the warming potential between the stated and actual effectiveness of flaring across the United States equivalent to putting 2.9 million more cars onto the road each year, the paper in Science said. A team led by Genevieve Plant at the University of Michigan carried out airborne sa…