State unveils tighter limits
Proposal would mean more inspections for oil, gas industry
Colorado health officials on Monday proposed a ratcheting of controls on the oil and gas industry to reduce air pollution — aiming to comply with federal ozone limits, obey lawmakers who ordered a cleanup and sync the state with efforts to contain climate change.
The measures that officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment unveiled would broaden and strengthen existing regulations. They include:
• Requiring oil and gas companies to inspect their facilities statewide twice a year to detect leaks and fix them
• Eliminating a 90-day exemption that lets oil and gas companies drill and frack before they obtain required permits that limit air pollution
• Measuring and regulating air pollution along the industry’s expanding array of pipelines using infrared, aerial and other devices
• Requiring companies to produce comprehensive annual reports detailing levels of pollutants they emit, including nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, methane and heat-trapping greenhouse gases linked to climate
change
• Tightening rules that companies control emissions from storage tanks and during truck unloading at facilities, and requiring better valves be installed so that less gas is vented into the atmosphere
“We’re going to reduce statewide emissions by 80% by 2030,” John Putnam, the state health department’s environmental programs director, told the 70 or so participants at a public meeting in Denver on Monday.
“We’re still trying to figure out exactly how to get there. We cannot do it without regulating this oil and gas sector,” Putnam said.
Garry Kaufman, director of the state’s air pollution control division, presented the proposed new controls at the first of four public “stakeholder” meetings — ahead of formal Air Quality Control Commission hearings this fall.
These measures would take effect starting in 2020, and mark a first step toward the aggressive action Gov. Jared Polis has promised to clean up pollution in a state where air quality increasingly piques public rage.
Industry attorneys watched and listened Monday, saying they’ll review the proposed measures before weighing in during upcoming hearings.
“This is the first time we’ve seen some of these,” said Andrew Casper, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s director of legal and regulatory affairs. “It looks pretty sweeping and extreme.”
State data shows that the oil and gas industry stands out as the main source of the volatile organic compounds (172 tons per day) and of the nitrogen oxides (49 tons per day) that, mixing in sunlight, worsen ozone air pollution.
Colorado for years has violated federal health standards for ozone and faces a legally required federal imposition of stricter controls. While the state data shows that volatile organic compounds from the oil and gas industry decreased between 2011 and 2017, the levels of nitrogen oxides have increased as oil and gas production surged in recent years.
Colorado health officials repeatedly acknowledged at Monday’s meeting that there’s too much pollution, yet faced a barrage from residents demanding more — including a moratorium on the regularly issued permits that allow new oil and gas drilling.
Activist Leslie Weise, from Niwot, pointed to recent independent scientific studies showing buildups of cancer-causing benzene and other industry pollution near homes.
“There’s not a day I don’t have concerns about inhaling carcinogenic emissions from Weld County,” Weise said.
Retired Denver public works employee Gary Norton, 73, pointed to Colorado’s emergence over the past decade as a leading oil and gas producer — worsening the global warming that nations of the world have resolved to contain.
“We need to think about how we’ll be doing our part,” Norton said. “All mankind has to reduce” reliance on fossil fuels which, when burned, worsen warming, he said.
Environment advocates welcomed the state health department’s proposals, but argued that Colorado lawmakers, in Senate Bill 181, passed last winter, authorized a tougher approach.
The measures unveiled Monday reflect rising concern over Colorado’s failure to meet the current federal limit for ozone — 70 parts per billion.
Air monitors along the Front Range show levels exceeding 75 parts per billion, and state health officials regularly issue health alerts due to elevated ozone — which worsens respiratory health problems, hitting children and the elderly the hardest.
New measures will be developed in concert with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which also is planning “rule-makings” to reflect new state priorities, Kaufman said.
“This is a very compelling package of ways to reduce emissions,” he said. “The goal of all of this is to protect public health and the environment.”
Future public meetings are scheduled in September — one in Broomfield and another in Grand Junction. State air officials, who deploy a team of 11 inspectors to visit around 2,000 sites a year to verify company compliance, defended their measures as consistent with SB 181 and other state laws.
“We are moving forward to protect public health,” Kaufman said.
“We were not told to shut down the industry. We were not told to issue a moratorium. We were told to reduce emissions. We are going to see a dramatic decline in emissions from these facilities. That, in turn, is going to protect public health and the environment.”