Air pollution rules for oil, gas working, regulators say

Judith Kohler, Associated Press

Friday, October 19, 2007

Regulators said Thursday that tougher air pollution rules for Colorado's booming oil and gas industry appear to be making a difference, even though part of the Front Range likely will be found in violation of federal ozone standards anyway.

Oil and gas operators in northeastern Colorado have cut emissions that contribute to ground- level ozone pollution by nearly 75 percent, the target set by stricter regulations imposed last December.

State regulators expect the federal government to find the Denver area out of compliance with ozone standards after high readings this summer.

But the number of days with high ozone levels was lower than projected, and the tougher limits on oil and gas wells likely helped, said Mike Silverstein, manager of planning and policy for the state air pollution control division.

"It did take the edge off some of our high days," Silverstein said during an update on the rules for the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission.

The rules required companies to reduce the emissions from the tanks that collect water and other byproducts of natural gas production.

Vapors that escape from the tanks are blamed for adding to ground-level ozone.

Ground-level ozone is created when the sun bakes pollutants such as vehicle exhaust, wildfire smoke and vapors from everything from paint cans to oil and gas wells.

Industry officials have said they believe that oil and gas companies are being unfairly singled out and that getting rid of older, polluting vehicles would do more to cut ozone levels.

A nine-county region covering the Denver area and stretching north and east to Larimer and Weld counties appears to be losing the battle to stay below the federal ozone cap. The Environmental Protection Agency has held off declaring the Front Range out of compliance while Colorado adopts a pollution-reduction plan, but state officials expect that to change after this summer's high readings at a Denver-area monitoring site.

Companies had to start capturing more of the vapors or use flares to burn off the emissions.

Along with the stricter rules along the Front Range, regulators in December approved the first-ever statewide emissions controls on the oil and gas industry because of the growing number of wells in western and south-central Colorado.

Last year, the state approved nearly 6,000 drilling permits, a record. Most of those were for gas wells. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission expects to exceed 6,000 permits this year.

That's why regulators recommended statewide regulations, Silverstein said.

"As long as the price of natural gas stays high, we're going to see new areas explored," he said.