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Colorado Fracking Rules Promise Cleaner Air, but Governor’s Plan Falls Short of Safeguarding Public Health

Date
November 21, 2013
Contact
Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
In This Release
Climate + Energy  
#KeepItInTheGround
Denver—A plan to curb air pollution from fracking in Colorado, which was presented to the Air Quality Control Commission today, is a big step forward, but still falls short of slashing smog and safeguarding communities.

“For the health of our communities, we have to get ahead of air pollution from fracking, not let it get ahead of us,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “These rules are a solid step forward, but unfortunately, Coloradoans will only break even under the Governor’s plan. We have to go further.”

Colorado’s clean air has been straining in the face of unprecedented levels of fracking. The Denver Metropolitan Area and North Front Range region is currently designated “nonattainment” because of ongoing violations of federal smog limits. Monitors in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld Counties have all registered violations. The region is currently under a federal deadline to bring all monitors into compliance by the end of 2015.

And this year, for the first time ever, a monitor in Rangely, Colorado fell into violation. This area of western Colorado suffered from smog levels 40% higher than federal limits earlier in 2013.

In October, Guardians called on state regulators to significantly curtail air pollution from fracking, pointing to rising smog levels and public health risks.

In the last ten years, the amount of oil and gas wells drilled in the state has increased by more than 100% according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Fueled by the advent of horizontal and directional drilling, and new fracking technology, the majority of this drilling has taken place in Weld County north of Denver and Garfield County in western Colorado. There are now more than 51,000 active wells in the state, including more than 22,000 in the Denver Metro/North Front Range region.

Oil and gas fracking is a messy process, producing many air pollutants known to endanger public health. Among them are volatile organic compounds, essentially toxic fumes from oil and gas, including methane and benzene, and nitrogen oxides, a byproduct of combustion. Both pollutants pose myriad health risks, but also react with sunlight to form ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog.

In Colorado, oil and gas operations are tied to 47% of all volatile organic compounds, more than any other source of air pollution in the state. The largest source of volatile organic compounds are leaking equipment and storage tanks. They also release nearly 20% of all nitrogen oxides, the third largest source in the state. The largest source of nitrogen oxides include compressor engines and drilling rigs.

Colorado has known for years that oil and gas operations take a tremendous toll on clean air, fueling dangerously high smog levels. In 2004, spurred by violations of federal limits on smog, the Air Quality Control Commission adopted the first limits on air pollution from oil and gas operations in the Denver Metropolitan Area and North Front Range region, including in Weld County. Ongoing violations of smog limits prompted the state to adopt stronger limits in 2007, which included the adoption of the state’s first set of statewide limits on emissions from oil and gas operations. These rules were strengthened in 2009.

Despite the Air Commission’s efforts, increases in drilling and fracking have outpaced pollution reductions. Since 2010, the Denver Metro/North Front Range region has gone from two monitors in violation of federal smog limits to 10. The first ever violation of federal ozone limits in western Colorado also occurred this year.

The latest proposal put forth by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper would strengthen existing rules, targeting methane emissions throughout the state, requiring greater control of leaking equipment, greater controls on tanks and other sources of volatile organic compounds, and better monitoring. All told, the proposal would reduce volatile organic compound emissions by 255.4 tons per day statewide, with an estimated 68.5 tons per day reduction in the Denver Metro/North Front range area.

While seemingly significant, these emission reductions would not even reduce volatile organic compound emissions below present levels, which are fueling elevated smog levels. For the Denver Metro/North Front Range region, for example, current baseline oil and gas emission are estimated to be 240 tons of volatile organic compounds daily. Yet by 2018, estimates indicate that emissions will be 340 tons daily. Thus, a 68.5 ton per day reduction in emissions will not actually achieve a net pollution reduction below current levels.

The rules would not reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at all.

“We can’t possibly curtail smog and protect our health if we can’t actually reduce emissions,” said Nichols. “At the end of the day, Governor Hickenlooper’s rules may make fracking cleaner, but cleaner fracking won’t protect our clean air. We need real reductions in pollution and real limits on fracking.”

The Air Quality Control Commission will now hold a rulemaking process to determine the best course of action in response to Governor Hickenlooper’s proposal. The process will culminate in a multi-day hearing in February of 2014. WildEarth Guardians intends to soon apply for party status in the rulemaking and officially call for more pollution reductions and more limits on fracking.