[majinuub]

From the article:

“This gas is unable to be sold to a pipeline, so otherwise they’re either venting or flaring the gas. If you are venting the gas you’re just literally venting the methane into the atmosphere,”...

There's probably too much distance between the nearest town or pipeline for the gas to be sold. If not, there's likely some other reason why its not economical for the gas to be used. Otherwise these companies wouldn't be burning away free money. So Bitcoin miners act as a buyer of last resort.

As for it being wasted. What's valuable is purely subjective. That's what makes markets work. Its also why planning economies from the top down doesn't work. What seems like wasted energy or capital to you is very useful to another person. Many people (myself included) believe that a decentralized, digital, hard money that is tied to the real world through energy is extremely important. So to those people its not a waste of energy, far from it.