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Clean Air at Risk from Expanded Oil and Gas Drilling Along Colorado’s Front Range
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Clean Air at Risk from Expanded Oil and Gas Drilling Along Colorado’s Front Range
WildEarth Guardians Files Suit in Federal Court Over Bureau of Land Management’s Authorization of More Drilling Despite Mounting Smog
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303
Denver—WildEarth Guardians today filed suit in federal courtto put an end to the Bureau of Land Management’s practice of issuing oil andgas leases in and around Weld County, Colorado in defiance of clean air.
“The Front Range is in the midst of a smog crisis, yet theBureau is rubber stamping more drilling,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate andEnergy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “They’re letting the Front Range choke on smog.”
The nine county Front Range region—from Douglas County northto Larimer and Weld counties—is already in violation of federal healthstandards for ozone, the key ingredient of smog. Ozone is a corrosive gas that can irritate and scar thelungs and trigger asthma attacks. It forms when volatile gases and engine exhaust react with sunlight.
Special requirements under the Clean Air Act require theBureau of Land Management to ensure its actions do not make the Front Range’sozone problem worse than it already is. Despite this, in late 2009, the agency leased 12 parcels in Weld andMorgan Counties, totaling more than 3,680 acres, without addressing andlimiting harmful air pollution.
In early 2010, WildEarth Guardians put the Bureau of LandManagement on notice of its illegal actions, yet the agency never responded ormade any effort to fix the problem. In today’s lawsuit, WildEarth Guardians is challenging the Bureau ofLand Management’s failure to safeguard air quality and comply with the CleanAir Act. Under the Clean Air Act,the Bureau could be assessed penalties of $37,500 for every day the agencyviolated the law.
“It’s time for the Bureau of Land Management to start takingclean air seriously. They need tobe a part of solving our smog problem,” said Nichols. “This is about looking before leaping; before the agencysells away the rights to drill for oil and gas, they need to address the airquality impacts and adopt measures that limit harmful pollution.”
The agency’s push to lease more of the Front Range for oiland gas drilling threatens to make the region’s air quality problemsworse. Although many sources ofair pollution contribute to the region’s ozone problem, oil and gas drillingoperations are a major source of ozone forming pollution. According to the State of Colorado, oiland gas operations release nearly 40% of all volatile, ozone forming gases andmore than 10% of the region’s engine exhaust.
And while the State of Colorado has adopted some rules tolimit pollution from oil and gas operations, a number of sources fall outsidethe rules. For example, airpollution from drill rig engines is not limited, yet they release more than3,000 tons of ozone forming pollution just in Weld County—more pollution thanmany coal-fired power plants release.
Today’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for theDistrict of Colorado.