The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed rules to cut air pollution from oil-and-gas operations using many of the same techniques already required in Colorado.
Both the EPA and environmentalists noted that Colorado and Wyoming have adopted a number of the proposed measures.
“The Colorado experience shows these measures can work,” said Jeremy Nichols, director of the Climate and Energy Program at Wild Earth Guardians.
Among the proposed requirements:
• Green well completions, which capture air emissions and wastes after a well is drilled and hydrofractured. Colorado already requires green completions where feasible.
• Reducing leaks from compressors and tanks.
• Leak detection and repairs at gas processing plants.
“From our initial review, the state of Colorado standards are comparable for some types of equipment to what’s being proposed by EPA,” said Douglas Hock, a spokesman for EnCana Oil and Gas Inc.
By capturing and recycling the methane emissions, EPA estimates that the industry will save the equivalent of $30 million a year in natural gas.
The EPA estimates the rules would cut volatile organic emissions — a component of ozone — by 25 percent and methane by 26 percent.
Oil-and-gas operations on the Front Range have been required to cut emissions 95 percent as part of the state’s plan to curb smog.
“Over the last few years, our industry has invested over $40 million in improving air emissions technology at oil-and-gas operations across Colorado,” said Doug Flanders, a spokesman for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.
“We will be reviewing the EPA proposal in the coming weeks,” Flanders said.
Hearings on the proposed rules will be held in September in Pittsburgh, Dallas and Denver.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
