The Environmental Protection Agency this month sent six proposed permits to regulate air pollution from oil and gas wells on the Western Slope back to Colorado regulators because the state did not require adequate emissions monitoring at the sites.<\/p>\n
The partial rejection of the Title V air permits, which regulate how much pollution the drilling facilities can release into the air, is an unexpected move from the Trump administration, which has acted favorably toward fossil fuel companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity<\/a>, which filed the petitions asking the EPA to reconsider the permits, said it was shameful that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment\u2019s<\/a> Air Pollution Control Division<\/a> was issuing permits \u201cso bad that even the Trump administration has to object.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile EPA objections to permits aren\u2019t unusual, they are unusual under arguably the most anti-environment administration that is blatantly subservient to the oil and gas industry,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cThe bar for Colorado should be much higher<\/a> than what the Trump administration is willing to go along with.\u201d<\/p>\n The partial rejections were issued March 9 by EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, who agreed with the environmental group that the six air permits were insufficient. The Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group with a mission to protect a diverse ecosystem, filed the petitions<\/a> last year, arguing that the state failed to require air monitoring to detect volatile organic compound emissions at the wells\u2019 venting sites.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Title V permits must include testing, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements that are sufficient to assure compliance with all applicable requirements and permit terms. The Petitioner has demonstrated that the Starkey Gulch Permit does not include monitoring requirements sufficient to assure compliance with the VOC emission limits on maintenance and blowdown activities,\u201d said one of those March 9 orders<\/a>,\u00a0addressing a specific drilling facility owned by Bargath LLC.<\/p>\n The Center for Biological Diversity also asked for more monitoring at the wells\u2019 flares<\/a> \u2014 or smokestacks \u2014 but the EPA supported the state\u2019s plan for monitoring those locations. Under the permit, the flare emissions will be tested once every five years.<\/p>\n Five of the facilities are operated by Bargath, a subsidiary of natural gas giant Williams, and the sixth is operated by Grand River Gathering, a subsidiary of Houston-based Summit Midstream. All are in Garfield County.<\/p>\n Tom Droege, a Williams spokesman, said the company was reviewing the EPA decision and \u201clooks forward to working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to address any concerns identified in the order.\u201d<\/p>\n Leah Schleifer, a state health department spokeswoman, said the air quality division was reviewing the EPA order and would not comment on it.<\/p>\n Volatile organic compounds<\/a>, or VOCs, are chemical compounds released through oil and gas extraction, and they can cause breathing problems as well as cancer. They also combine with nitrogen oxides to form ground-level ozone pollution, which traps heat in the atmosphere, leading to climate change.<\/p>\n The Title V air permit, which is written by state regulators and approved by the EPA, did not require sufficient monitoring<\/a> for those compounds at the six wells\u2019 compressor station venting systems, the EPA\u2019s orders said.<\/p>\n At the compressor stations, the natural gas produced from wells is processed so that water and other contaminants are removed. The gas is then pressurized and pushed through a pipeline to other facilities downstream.<\/p>\n That decontamination process releases fumes into the air and is a big source of VOC emissions, Nichols said.<\/p>\n The Title V air permits specify the level of VOCs that can be released, but without monitoring<\/a>, it is impossible to know whether the companies are in compliance, and impossible for state and federal regulators to enforce the rules, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t have speed limits and no speedometers,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cWe need to have the monitoring in place to guarantee compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n The EPA agreed with Nichols\u2019 assertion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Petitioner has demonstrated that the Permit does not include monitoring requirements sufficient to assure compliance with the VOC emission limit on maintenance and blowdown activities,\u201d the EPA order<\/a> for Grand River Gathering\u2019s East Mamm Creek compressor station stated.<\/p>\n Under the Clean Air Act, the state has 90 days to respond to the EPA\u2019s rejections. The companies can continue extracting oil under their old permits until the EPA order is addressed.<\/p>\n