Post by coolplanet on Jul 9, 2013 0:06:51 GMT -5
Colorado mulls oil and gas air pollution rules as wary residents erupt
Weld County is leading a state boom in oil and gas drilling. Colorado now has more than 50,000 oil and gas wells
— a number increasing by about 2,000 a year. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
By Bruce Finley | July 8, 2013
www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_23616566/cdphe-mulls-oil-and-gas-air-pollution-rules
LOVELAND — Colorado health officials are mobilizing to deal with air pollution from oil and gas industry sources that emit at least 600 tons of contaminants a day.
Oil and gas emissions now are the main source of volatile organic compounds in Colorado and the third-largest source of nitrogen oxides, at a time when a nine-county area around metro Denver is already failing to meet federal clean-air standards, state data show.
But as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment emphasizes balance as it edges toward possible new rules to reduce pollution, Front Range residents increasingly are riled by a lack of scientific certainty about whether emissions harm their health.
Anti-drilling groups are making health fears the focus of campaigns against drilling near communities. In one case, a resident paid more than $1,200 for baseline air tests around her business.
"We're talking about tiny molecules, and you can't control them with steel flanges and a gasket," said Irene Fortune, a retired DuPont chemist, collecting signatures in Loveland last week to put a drilling moratorium on the Nov. 5 city ballot.
Air pollution from wells, tanks and pipelines "is turning into ozone. That's already a problem," she said. "And state officials are talking about expanding oil and gas operations. What about the people who live here?"
A nine-member panel of air quality control commissioners appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper would vote on any proposed air pollution rules. Four commissioners' terms expire in January.
Industry officials from Encana Corp. are already reviewing and commenting on proposed CDPHE rules, "giving input on what kinds of reductions are possible, given current technologies," spokeswoman Bridget Ford said. "We also want to work to educate both the division and public on our processes and the emissions- reduction technologies that we employ."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued tougher national rules designed to reduce air pollution from the oil and natural gas operations while allowing increased production. CDPHE air commissioners last year postponed full adoption of the EPA standards.
State lawmakers initially gave the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission primary oversight of the industry. Colorado now has more than 50,000 oil and gas wells — a number increasing by about 2,000 a year.
While COGCC regulates odor and nuisance issues, CDPHE would enforce any new air pollution rules, agency officials said last week.
"As we move toward adopting EPA's rules, we are also looking at cost-effective enhancements to the state's existing air quality regulations," CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division director Will Allison said in a statement issued Friday.
Measures proposed
The initial measures that state air quality staffers sent to commissioners for consideration would:
• Strengthen emission controls on storage tanks;
• Expand statewide the existing pollution control requirements that currently apply in the metro Denver and north Front Range areas that fail to meet federal ozone standards;
• Establish leak-detection and repair requirements for oil and gas wellheads and compressor stations;
• Encourage the routing of natural gas into a sales pipeline within six months after new wells are drilled;
• Streamline permitting requirements by increasing the permit threshold from 2 to 5 tons per year of pollution to 25 tons per year;
• Raise thresholds for reporting oil and gas pollution.
State air monitoring has found that oil and gas sources currently emit at least 463 tons a day of smog-forming VOCs and 149 tons a day of nitrogen oxides — much of it in the ozone-prone Front Range corridor.
But there are gaps in data and scientific understanding, complicating efforts to craft rules that protect people and also enable industrial growth.
No comprehensive study of the health effects of oil and gas development has been done.
State health and COGCC officials now are partnering with Colorado State University to conduct an "air dispersal study" related to oil and gas development. It does not include human health data. The first phase is set to run through June 2016. Results aren't expected in time to inform rule-making.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists found in a 2012 study that methane and benzene emissions from Front Range oil and gas operations may be higher than previously believed.
Meanwhile, a major opportunity to nail down such issues and benefit from high-powered NASA satellites could be lost. The Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment would train NASA satellites on Colorado oil and gas fields to give measurements of industry pollution circulating around cities.
National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Frank Flocke presented the project to air commissioners in May. Allison told commissioners then that "we're very intrigued by this proposal" but said the state lacks funds.
Funding remains the challenge. Flocke said Friday that NASA needs around $2 million from companies or the state. "If we're not successful by the end of August, we will have to pull the plug as NASA will need time to find another focus area."
Not knowing what pollution is emitted, how much and whether it could affect people has become a primary concern for many residents.
"We should know what is in our air," Frederick resident Christie Van Landingham said while working on her lawn a couple hundred yards from oil and gas wells and tanks.
"Going in fast"
In Johnstown, homeowner Mike Harris weighed the issue while digging weeds in a backyard adjacent to a cornfield that contains a gas well, tanks and a waste vent.
Harris said companies should only be required to capture fumes at a rate that is technically feasible and that state rules should not be too tight. He said he's more worried about chemicals and pesticides than oil and gas fumes.
"But the wells sure are going in fast," he said. "If we knew exactly what is coming out of there, we'd probably be a little more concerned."
The Environmental Defense Fund is pressing for stricter controls.
"As operators prepare to invest billions ... we need to ensure we have the regulatory structure in place to minimize impacts to human health and the environment," EDF regional director Dan Grossman said. "While there's no question that oil and gas development is an important economic driver in Colorado, there's also no question that we need to make sure this development is done right."
In the big picture, natural gas can bring broad environmental benefits, reducing emission of greenhouse gases as a cleaner alternative to burning coal at power plants.
Yet in Colorado, the natural gas share of electricity production decreased to 20.2 percent in 2012 from 22.4 percent in 2004, state energy office data show.
Even if state health officials weigh in, reducing air pollution will depend on compliance and enforcement.
State inspectors of oil and gas facilities often have been ill-equipped to detect air emissions. Colorado lawmakers this year agreed to fund four infrared cameras for CDPHE, which currently has only one, and two for COGCC.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association policy director Doug Flanders last week pledged commitment "to the continual pursuit of emissions reductions," and said the trade group "will continue to partner with our communities and state regulators" to achieve these.
But in Loveland, even though no drilling has begun, a group of activists called Protect Our Loveland is pointing to neighboring Greeley, where COGCC regulators have approved more than 100 wells inside city limits.
Loveland's City Council recently ended a previous moratorium, citing concerns about lawsuits.
"They didn't even consider health," retired teacher Carla Massaro said as she collected signatures outside the public library.
Protect Our Loveland member Sharon Carlisle, a 20-year resident of the city, said her father died from cancer after working for years in a Pennsylvania uranium-processing factory where fumes were assumed to be safe.
"Why is the drilling happening before we really know?" Carlisle asked. "Why do we have to be the guinea pigs?"
Weld County is leading a state boom in oil and gas drilling. Colorado now has more than 50,000 oil and gas wells
— a number increasing by about 2,000 a year. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
By Bruce Finley | July 8, 2013
www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_23616566/cdphe-mulls-oil-and-gas-air-pollution-rules
LOVELAND — Colorado health officials are mobilizing to deal with air pollution from oil and gas industry sources that emit at least 600 tons of contaminants a day.
Oil and gas emissions now are the main source of volatile organic compounds in Colorado and the third-largest source of nitrogen oxides, at a time when a nine-county area around metro Denver is already failing to meet federal clean-air standards, state data show.
But as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment emphasizes balance as it edges toward possible new rules to reduce pollution, Front Range residents increasingly are riled by a lack of scientific certainty about whether emissions harm their health.
Anti-drilling groups are making health fears the focus of campaigns against drilling near communities. In one case, a resident paid more than $1,200 for baseline air tests around her business.
"We're talking about tiny molecules, and you can't control them with steel flanges and a gasket," said Irene Fortune, a retired DuPont chemist, collecting signatures in Loveland last week to put a drilling moratorium on the Nov. 5 city ballot.
Air pollution from wells, tanks and pipelines "is turning into ozone. That's already a problem," she said. "And state officials are talking about expanding oil and gas operations. What about the people who live here?"
A nine-member panel of air quality control commissioners appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper would vote on any proposed air pollution rules. Four commissioners' terms expire in January.
Industry officials from Encana Corp. are already reviewing and commenting on proposed CDPHE rules, "giving input on what kinds of reductions are possible, given current technologies," spokeswoman Bridget Ford said. "We also want to work to educate both the division and public on our processes and the emissions- reduction technologies that we employ."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued tougher national rules designed to reduce air pollution from the oil and natural gas operations while allowing increased production. CDPHE air commissioners last year postponed full adoption of the EPA standards.
State lawmakers initially gave the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission primary oversight of the industry. Colorado now has more than 50,000 oil and gas wells — a number increasing by about 2,000 a year.
While COGCC regulates odor and nuisance issues, CDPHE would enforce any new air pollution rules, agency officials said last week.
"As we move toward adopting EPA's rules, we are also looking at cost-effective enhancements to the state's existing air quality regulations," CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division director Will Allison said in a statement issued Friday.
Measures proposed
The initial measures that state air quality staffers sent to commissioners for consideration would:
• Strengthen emission controls on storage tanks;
• Expand statewide the existing pollution control requirements that currently apply in the metro Denver and north Front Range areas that fail to meet federal ozone standards;
• Establish leak-detection and repair requirements for oil and gas wellheads and compressor stations;
• Encourage the routing of natural gas into a sales pipeline within six months after new wells are drilled;
• Streamline permitting requirements by increasing the permit threshold from 2 to 5 tons per year of pollution to 25 tons per year;
• Raise thresholds for reporting oil and gas pollution.
State air monitoring has found that oil and gas sources currently emit at least 463 tons a day of smog-forming VOCs and 149 tons a day of nitrogen oxides — much of it in the ozone-prone Front Range corridor.
But there are gaps in data and scientific understanding, complicating efforts to craft rules that protect people and also enable industrial growth.
No comprehensive study of the health effects of oil and gas development has been done.
State health and COGCC officials now are partnering with Colorado State University to conduct an "air dispersal study" related to oil and gas development. It does not include human health data. The first phase is set to run through June 2016. Results aren't expected in time to inform rule-making.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists found in a 2012 study that methane and benzene emissions from Front Range oil and gas operations may be higher than previously believed.
Meanwhile, a major opportunity to nail down such issues and benefit from high-powered NASA satellites could be lost. The Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment would train NASA satellites on Colorado oil and gas fields to give measurements of industry pollution circulating around cities.
National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Frank Flocke presented the project to air commissioners in May. Allison told commissioners then that "we're very intrigued by this proposal" but said the state lacks funds.
Funding remains the challenge. Flocke said Friday that NASA needs around $2 million from companies or the state. "If we're not successful by the end of August, we will have to pull the plug as NASA will need time to find another focus area."
Not knowing what pollution is emitted, how much and whether it could affect people has become a primary concern for many residents.
"We should know what is in our air," Frederick resident Christie Van Landingham said while working on her lawn a couple hundred yards from oil and gas wells and tanks.
"Going in fast"
In Johnstown, homeowner Mike Harris weighed the issue while digging weeds in a backyard adjacent to a cornfield that contains a gas well, tanks and a waste vent.
Harris said companies should only be required to capture fumes at a rate that is technically feasible and that state rules should not be too tight. He said he's more worried about chemicals and pesticides than oil and gas fumes.
"But the wells sure are going in fast," he said. "If we knew exactly what is coming out of there, we'd probably be a little more concerned."
The Environmental Defense Fund is pressing for stricter controls.
"As operators prepare to invest billions ... we need to ensure we have the regulatory structure in place to minimize impacts to human health and the environment," EDF regional director Dan Grossman said. "While there's no question that oil and gas development is an important economic driver in Colorado, there's also no question that we need to make sure this development is done right."
In the big picture, natural gas can bring broad environmental benefits, reducing emission of greenhouse gases as a cleaner alternative to burning coal at power plants.
Yet in Colorado, the natural gas share of electricity production decreased to 20.2 percent in 2012 from 22.4 percent in 2004, state energy office data show.
Even if state health officials weigh in, reducing air pollution will depend on compliance and enforcement.
State inspectors of oil and gas facilities often have been ill-equipped to detect air emissions. Colorado lawmakers this year agreed to fund four infrared cameras for CDPHE, which currently has only one, and two for COGCC.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association policy director Doug Flanders last week pledged commitment "to the continual pursuit of emissions reductions," and said the trade group "will continue to partner with our communities and state regulators" to achieve these.
But in Loveland, even though no drilling has begun, a group of activists called Protect Our Loveland is pointing to neighboring Greeley, where COGCC regulators have approved more than 100 wells inside city limits.
Loveland's City Council recently ended a previous moratorium, citing concerns about lawsuits.
"They didn't even consider health," retired teacher Carla Massaro said as she collected signatures outside the public library.
Protect Our Loveland member Sharon Carlisle, a 20-year resident of the city, said her father died from cancer after working for years in a Pennsylvania uranium-processing factory where fumes were assumed to be safe.
"Why is the drilling happening before we really know?" Carlisle asked. "Why do we have to be the guinea pigs?"