Weld County emissions count
Federal ruling puts oil-gas operations under metro-area pollution standards
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that an emissions-heavy section of northern Weld County that currently is excluded from limits on air pollution imposed on the Denver area should be counted, potentially ratcheting up pressure on the oil and gas industry to operate more cleanly or cut output.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that the Environmental Protection Agency incorrectly left a swath of Weld County abutting the Wyoming state line out of the nine-county “nonattainment” area that centers on Denver, meaning emissions from hundreds of oil and gas wells in that part of the county soon could be added to the metro area for air pollution measurement purposes.
Robert Ukeiley, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the ruling effectively means Weld County energy operations near the Wyoming line will have to “comply with the more protective standard” that the metro area is under in terms of their emissions output.
“Oil and gas, including in northern Weld County, is responsible for our smog problem, and the court told the EPA enough is enough,” Ukeiley said. “You have to get (the industry) to reduce their pollution.”
The ruling from the appeals court sends the matter back to the EPA for further consideration. The lawsuit against the EPA was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Boulder County Board of Commissioners.
Heat and sunlight bake pollutants, including some of the chemicals emitted by oil and gas operations, to form ozone, or smog. For more than 15 years, Colorado has flunked federal air quality health standards with ozone air pollution exceeding a decade-old federal limit of 75 parts per billion, which was tightened to 70 parts per billion under President Barack Obama.
The World Health Organization recommends no more than 50 parts per billion to protect human health.
The U.S. threshold has placed much of the metro area and areas immediately around it in “nonattainment” status when it comes to meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act. The EPA in December reclassified Colorado as a “serious” violator of federal air quality laws, forcing stricter state efforts to reduce air pollution.
The industry has been hit hard in recent months, as the COVID19 pandemic has depressed demand for energy and oil prices have taken a big hit on the global
commodities market. Lynn Granger, executive director of the American Petroleum Institute Colorado, said her organization was disappointed by Friday’s ruling.
“The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has recently acknowledged a ‘significant’ reduction of ozonecausing emissions, both in Denver and across the state, and we are committed to our leadership role in these efforts,” she said. “According to numerous state agencies, a majority of ozone-causing emissions in the Denver area originate from either outside of Colorado or from sources unrelated to human activity.”
Andrew Mutter, director of public affairs for EPA in Denver, said Friday “we are aware of the ruling and are reviewing it at this time.”
Andrew Bare, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the state already has approved rules to reduce emissions, including twice-a-year leak detection and repair at well sites. “If the boundaries of the nonattainment area are changed, then the state’s current rules and regulations for the nonattainment area will apply within the new boundaries,” he said.
Friday’s ruling revolved around two primary issues: Weld County’s outsized role in oil and gas production in Colorado — the county has nearly half of the state’s more than 50,000 active wells — and a finding that the EPA erroneously cited a topographical feature, Cheyenne Ridge, as a reason for excluding the northern section of the county from the nonattainment area.
The EPA, the court wrote, claimed the ridge effectively acted as a blockade to emissions emanating from the northern reaches of Weld County. The problem is the Cheyenne Ridge is on the Colorado-Wyoming line, the court said, not farther south, as the EPA asserted. “EPA literally moved mountains to try and cut oil and gas a break from having to reduce pollution,” Ukeiley said Friday.
The court also faulted EPA’s reasoning for excluding the northern portion of Weld County based on the federal agency’s conclusion that that section of the county contributed only a quarter of the nitrogen oxide and 18% of the volatile organic compounds that the county overall emits.
“Given that Weld County sources generate exceptionally high amounts of VOCs and NOx — mostly from oil and gas operations — the fact that northern Weld contributed only a quarter of those emissions does not support EPA’s decision not to consider them,” the court ruled.
The court determined that according to 2011 data, Weld County produced approximately six times as many VOCs as the nexthighest county included in the Denver nonattainment area. And compared with the lowest-emitting county, Weld County produced about 60 times as many VOCs and 20 times more nitrogen oxide.