Clean air status in peril

Oil exploration boom threatens to send ozone levels soaring

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Soaring smog-forming emissions tied to exploding exploration of oil and gas northeast of Denver threaten to push up metro-area ozone levels, jeopardizing the region's ability to stay within federal clean air limits.

New projections show booming drilling business in Weld and Adams counties will generate smog-forming emissions in 2007 at levels 61 percent ahead of earlier expectations for those activities, a forecast that will likely force state regulators to impose sweeping controls on the industry.

Watching closely is the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which has agreed to declare the Denver area a clean air region for ozone if it stays within health limits for the pollutant over the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2007.

An official at the agency warned the industry to reel in emissions or it would jeopardize clean air progress.

"I think it's extremely important that the industry come to grips with this, because the consequences of lapsing into (dirty air) status would be rather devastating," said Richard Long, head of air programs for the EPA's regional office in Denver.

Discussions related to tougher controls begin Thursday at a meeting between state health officials, oil and gas representatives, and other parties.

Ultimately, the Air Quality Control Commission, a board appointed by the governor, will consider revising such regulations later this summer.

An industry spokesman, however, questioned how many more emission controls oil and gas operators should have to install, and suggested that, in the big picture, drillers account for just a tiny fraction of ozone-forming compounds.

"I hope the process will be informed by good science, and the science I have seen to date (shows) that (oil and gas) is not a significant part of the ozone formation," said Ken Wonstolen, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

Indeed, when sources of ozone compounds coming from outside of Colorado are considered, oil and gas drilling is a tiny contributor.

But, by the same token, regulators say, so are cars.

"When you start apportioning it out, (every manmade source) is small," said Mike Silverstein, a top pollution regulator at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Regulators can only control local, manmade sources, he said, but it's those that can make the difference between complying with - or failing - health standards.

Potentially at stake in the matter is Denver's air quality, the health of local residents, the actions other industries and consumers may need to take to cut ozone-forming compounds, and the region's standing with EPA regulators.

Falling into what federal officials call a "nonattainment" rating for air quality can delay highway projects, tighten emission limits on power plants and other big polluters, and make it far more difficult for new industry to build facilities in the region.

It also puts a public relations stain on an area seeking to lure new business.

The new emission figures for the oil and gas industry come as the Denver region is panting through an unusual spate of 90-degree plus days so early in June, with forecasts calling for more of the same over the next several days.

Tuesday, for the sixth day in a row, the Regional Air Quality Council issued an Ozone Action Alert, encouraging residents to limit driving, painting, mowing and refueling during the hottest daytime hours.

That's when compounds bake in the sunshine to form ozone, a pollutant that makes life more difficult for children, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.

"This is pretty unusual. The average for this time of year is generally in the mid-70s and we're 15 degrees higher than that," said Ken Lloyd, executive director of the air quality council. "We don't normally see this until July."

On Sunday, a pollution monitor at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden registered levels above federal health standards for ozone - the first such reading of the season.

Oil and gas production competes with motor vehicles as the biggest local manmade source of smog-forming emissions.

In 2004, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved 832 permits to drill in Weld County. In 2005, that number increased to 901.

So far this year, 419 permits have been issued, a pace the commission's Web site said is 22 percent ahead of last year's.

That rate of exploration caught state environmental regulators off-guard.

Like many, they failed to foresee the big increase in both natural gas and gasoline prices, fueled by the impact of Hurricane Katrina, growing foreign demand for fossil fuels and other developments such as the Iraq war.

Back in 2002, as part of a ozone-reduction plan developed by Colorado regulators and the EPA, officials projected that so-called "flash" emissions from activities associated with gas exploration in Adam and Weld counties would total 146 tons per day.

But the new projections, based on far higher-than-anticipated exploration, call for 236 tons per day - a 90 ton per day increase.

"Growth in the industry has taken our projections and made them inadequate," said Silverstein.

Until now, regulators wanted oil and gas operators to install adequate controls to keep smog-forming emissions northeast of Denver at 91 tons per day.

Now, to stay within that cap and reel in the growing emissions, Silverstein said operators would need to install far more controls - enough to cut emissions by as much as 80 percent.

But Wonstolen, of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, isn't ready to agree to that.

Citing figures that show the oil and gas industry accounts for less than 1 percent of the contribution to ozone formation in the region - when sources from outside the state are included - he argues it's not worth it to tighten controls further.

"I'm not prepared to say I'm going to support a (major) increase in the control requirement until we go through a more considered process," he said.

Sources of smog

Ground-level ozone, a major component of smog, forms when so-called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, bake in the summer sun. Here's a sampling of the projected levels of VOCs (tons per day) for 2007 and their sources in the metro area, as well as Weld County:

• Oil and gas exploration   236

• Cars, trucks and other vehicles   117.5

• Lawn and garden equipment   31.2

• Paint, other structural coatings   20.8

• Power plants, refineries, other large facilities   28.8

• Gas stations   16

• Pesticide application   10

• Total man-made sources   479.4*

• Total natural ( "biogenic") sources   468.1*Includes Additional Sources Not Listed Above Source: Colorado Department Of Public Health And Environment; Regional Air Quality Council

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5048