Methane emissions cause ozone pollution (near term) & climate change (long term)

From an Article by Michael Booth, Colorado Sun, July 25, 2022

DCP Operating Company LP settles with federal and state officials over allegations of failing to detect gases contributing to Front Range ozone. This Colorado natural gas processor will pay a $3.25 million fine in a settlement with federal and state air pollution officials, after allegations the company failed to detect and repair leaks that contributed to worsening ozone problems on the northern Front Range.

DCP Operating Company LP and five related subsidiaries will pay the fines and make repairs, in a consent decree announced by the regional Environmental Protection Agency office in Denver after allegations of leaks and failure to repair at gas processing locations in Greeley, Platteville and other Weld County locations. Weld County is part of the EPA’s northern Front Range nonattainment area for ongoing ozone violations, and state and local governments must come up with plans to cut emissions that contribute to the health-harming gas.

The decree says DCP does not admit to liability for the allegations, but will have to pay the fine and also invest millions of dollars in equipment and systems to prevent new leaks. The decree was negotiated with EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, part of the state health department.

“Enforcement actions like this are critical to improving air quality, particularly in places facing air quality challenges like Weld County,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement. Soon after the fine announcement, the state health department issued another Ozone Action Day Alert for the Front Range, one of many so far this summer, warning vulnerable residents to avoid too much outdoor activity for 24 hours.

“EPA continues to deliver cleaner air through the rigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act,” EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker said in a statement. “This settlement will reduce emissions of over 288 tons of volatile organic compounds and 1,300 tons of methane from production areas near northern Colorado communities, a majority of which are disproportionately impacted by pollution.”

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan credited state inspectors and enforcement personnel from the air division’s leak detection and repair program. She said the settlement will go to the state’s Community Impact Fund, which helps pay for local environmental justice projects.

DCP will now have to bolster leak detection and repair at facilities in the Greeley, Kersey/Mewbourne, Platteville, Roggen, Spindle, O’Connor and Lucerne processing plants, and the future Bighorn plant. The requirements include new equipment that leaks less, tightening compliance with rules, repairing leaks faster, and staff training. The decree says the company will also use optical imaging technology to find and repair leaks faster.

One repair on two turbines at the Kersey/Mewbourne plant will cost $1.15 million, and is expected to reduce VOCs there by 26 tons a year, and methane by 375 tons a year, according to the agreement. Natural gas processing facilities separate impurities and liquids from the gas. Methane also contributes to global warming, multiplying greenhouse gases by dozens of times the rate of carbon dioxide emissions.

Ground-level ozone causes respiratory illness, aggravates asthma, and can worsen existing heart disease.

A related company, DCP Midstream, was fined $5.3 million by New Mexico regulators in 2020 for alleged repeated violations of state air pollution emissions rules.

EPA and state officials say they are focusing tightly on northern Front Range oil and gas operations. The EPA last year reached a $1 million settlement with Noble Energy over alleged violations from oil tank batteries in Weld County floodplains.

DCP said in an email statement that the company started working on some of the fixes in the decree as early as 2019. “The settlement agreement resolves an administrative enforcement matter with the EPA and the State of Colorado and is also in line with our commitment to responsible environmental management and sustainability,” said DCP manager of public affairs Jeanette Alberg. The agreement “is consistent with our ongoing efforts to reduce emissions within our company footprint and is a positive outcome for all of our stakeholders,” she said. DCP is also upgrading Colorado facilities not mentioned in the settlement, the company said.

Environmental groups responded with skepticism, noting a recent hearing in front of the Air Quality Control Commission where northern Front Range cities said their own studies showed emissions are not down.

“This just continues to underscore the oil and gas industry’s rampant noncompliance with clean air laws and the terrible toll that continues to be taken on air quality along the Front Range,” said Jeremy Nichols of WildEarth Guardians. “Studies have basically confirmed that oil and gas industry emissions have not decreased over the years. It’s good that regulators are pressing DCP, Nichols said, “but it doesn’t seem like industry is truly changing its ways and doing everything it can and should to comply.”

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CLEAN AIR COUNCIL Recommendation ~

Tell the EPA to finalize the strongest air pollution regulations possible. This includes a ban on gas flaring or venting unless in absolute emergencies, consistent methane monitoring at all oil and gas facilities (including smaller, leak-prone wells), and requiring “no-bleed” pneumatic controllers and pumps at all gas wells and compressor stations.

Over ten thousand evacuated & ca. 600 homes gone

From an Article by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, December 31, 2021

Tens of thousands of Coloradans were forced to flee their homes Thursday as two fast-moving wildfires—whipped up by wind gusts reaching 110 mph—tore through communities just outside of Denver, engulfing entire neighborhoods in flames and destroying hundreds of buildings.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency to help aid the disaster response as officials characterized the late-December fire event as among the worst in the state’s history. “None of this is normal,” said Colorado state Rep. Leslie Herod (D-8). “We are not OK.”

Experts said the combination of months of unusually dry conditions, warm winter temperatures, and ferocious winds set the stage for the devastating blazes, which meteorologist Eric Holthaus viewed as further evidence that “we are in a climate emergency.”

The Colorado branch of the Sunrise Movement agreed, writing on social media that the fires were “fueled by the climate crisis.” A growing body of evidence has detailed the extent to which human-caused climate change is driving more frequent and intense wildfires in the U.S. and across the globe.

“People are losing their homes and running for their lives from a fire that started December fucking 30th,” Sunrise Colorado tweeted before turning its attention to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the Big Oil-friendly infrastructure law he helped craft. “Sen. Manchin, your Exxon highway bill isn’t going to save our homes or our lives,” the group said. “Your greed and corruption is not only torching our future. It’s burning our communities and destroying lives tonight.” Manchin, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, is currently blocking progress on Democrats’ Build Back Better Act, a $1.75 trillion reconciliation package containing hundreds of billions of dollars in climate-related investments.

Officially known as the Marshall and Middle Fork fires, the blazes have thus far torched nearly 600 homes and 1,600 acres in the Boulder County area. Avista Adventist Hospital, a 114-bed facility in Louisville, was forced to evacuate its intensive care units. No deaths and several injuries had been reported as of late Thursday as firefighters worked to contain the damage, an effort they hope will be assisted by a forecasted New Year’s Eve snowstorm.

Colorado Public Radio observed that while the exact cause of the destructive blazes is not yet clear, “early evidence suggests a sparking power line could have ignited the fires.”

“Late-December wildfires aren’t unheard of in Colorado, but the colder fall and winter months used to mean a break from the state’s peak fire season,” the outlet noted. “Scientists and fire ecologists say climate change, fueled by human-made carbon emissions, has added 78 days to the fire season since the 1970s.”

Environmentalist Bill McKibben likened the horrific images emerging from Colorado to “when the comet hits in ‘Don’t Look Up,’” a globally popular new film satirizing climate denial. “So look. Long and hard,” McKibben said. “And then get to work breaking the power of the fossil fuel industry.”

Some 100 residents are headed to DC

On Capitol Hill, July 13: Join 100 West Virginians in Support of Joe Biden’s 100% Clean Energy Standard

Co-sponsors of this event include West Virginia New Jobs Coalition, West Virginia Working Families Party, and CCAN Action Fund

Start: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 • 1:00 PM
Location:14th Street between Madison Dr. and Jefferson Dr. • National Mall, Washington, DC 20016

As West Virginians, we support President Joe Biden’s “American Jobs Plan”. Are you excited about the thousands of jobs this plan would create repairing our infrastructure, improving public health, and building a clean-energy economy?

If so, please join 100 fellow West Virginians on July 13th in Washington, DC. We’ll gather outdoors near the Capitol lawn in support of President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan and its 100% clean electricity by 2035 provision.

The American Jobs Plan includes extending the 48C Manufacturing Tax Credit which supports rural manufacturing and clean energy. This proven capital access program includes a special $4 billion carve-out for companies willing to set up operations in communities where coal mines or coal power plants have closed. In addition, the plan allocates $16 billion dollars to cap abandoned oil wells that continue to leak methane into the air and contaminate waterways.

The time to act is now. On July 13th we will gather at the US Capitol to show our support for 100% clean electricity and the American Jobs Plan.

Frack well site adjacent to public school playground

Open Letter to Governor Jared Polis and Director Robbins,

My name is Patricia Nelson, I am a resident of Greeley, Colorado and a mother of a student at Bella Romero Academy. On Monday, November 25, 2019, around 12:00 pm, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a press release reporting that an elevated level of benzene had been measured by the CDPHE’s mobile lab located at Bella Romero’s 4-8 grade campus.

The spike in the levels of benzene was measured at 3:50 pm on Tuesday, November 5, a school day. Pick up time is 3:45 pm. Keep in mind that those ‘safe’ levels of exposure – 9ppb – are typically intended for adults, this means that a chemical exposure would be even more dangerous for these children running out of the building after the bell rang.

The mobile lab also measures 12 ft. in the air. On such a cold November day, it is likely the benzene would have been more concentrated closer to the ground where the children actually are. I was made aware of this incident not by CDPHE, nor school officials, but by a reporter inquiring about the findings.

We have been told time and time again by your COGCC commissioners, your administration, and the operator that this kind of site is safe, that there is nothing to worry about. However, the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and dozens of peer-reviewed studies, have said otherwise.

Just in case you need more clarity, there are NO safe levels of exposure to benzene, and now your own agency confirms that the children of Bella Romero have been exposed to this carcinogen. The school officials I met with were under the impression that there would be no activity at the site while the children were in school. For the last two years that has been proven to be a lie.

I am writing to you today to ask that there is an immediate stop to Extraction Oil and Gas’s operation that is located a mere 1,200 ft from the front door of my child’s school.

Governor Polis, you appointed the commission and as the Director of the COGCC, Mr. Robbins, you are not only responsible for the approval of the permits but you are also responsible for the protection of public health and safety from oil and gas operations. A full 21 days passed before we were notified of the exposure. Meanwhile, the families of Bella Romero were dealing with children complaining of headaches and nausea. The same symptoms the recent CDPHE health study said would come from benzene exposure from oil and gas activity.

In some cases, our children stayed home from school due to their symptoms. It would be negligent, in fact, willful and wanton conduct, for you to allow continued oil and gas operations at this site until you can be certain that no further benzene exposure will occur. We as Coloradans still do not have the “basic guarantee” of our safety.

This site has been the center of controversy since its permits were approved in March 2017. This site was not supposed to be here, it was slated to be installed behind a more affluent school in Greeley, Frontier Academy. The Frontier parents were organized by Weld Air & Water, a group of mineral rights owners who were concerned by the proximity to the school.

Extraction Oil & Gas (XOG) later decided that the site was “not ideal for oil and gas operations.” They then went on to prey on a more vulnerable community. The demographics of our community made it easy for XOG to come in and set up shop without a fight. Most of the students at Bella Romero are eligible for free or reduced lunch. The majority of our students are Latinx, refugees, and children of mixed-status parents.

Greeley parents, teachers and community groups have done everything we can to try and stop this site after it was moved to Bella Romero. We sued over the approval of the permits, we have repeatedly protested and pleaded with the COGCC to stop this site.

The 24 wells were featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. The New York Times even wrote a feature story on the audacity of the project. The world is watching.

In the Spring of 2018, you visited our school, Governor Polis, and spoke with me personally. You said that parents like me shouldn’t have to worry about their children’s safety when it came to oil and gas, you all but said this kind of thing wouldn’t happen if you were elected Governor.

Your surrogates later went on to announce at the Weld County County Assembly that you were the only gubernatorial candidate that stood with the families of Bella Romero. We have heard nothing from you or your administration since.

I am lucky to have the ability to take a day off from work and stay at the Capitol until 2 am to testify – a job that I have almost lost because all of the time I have had to take off to attempt to protect my child from precisely what happened on November 5th. I shouldn’t have to do that. I am a mother. My biggest concern should be how my child doing in math and reading.

There are short term effects and there are long term effects that will result from this. We have heard this story before, it is not new. Considering the climate platform and “be bold” motto that you choose for your election platform, I would hope you would have the foresight and awareness to address this issue head-on and prevent further harm to these children.

Put an immediate stop to Extraction Oil and Gas’s operation behind my child’s school. This risk as it stands now is unacceptable. I encourage you both to visit the site, it has changed drastically since the last time you were here Governor Polis.

Respectfully, Patricia Nelson, Greeley, CO

Supporting organizations: Adams County Communities for Drilling Accountability NOW (ACCDAN), Broomfield Active Moms Community, Broomfield Concerned: A Coalition of Neighborhoods, Broomfield CAN, Be the Change – USA, Climate Justice Ministry at Foothills Unitarian, Colorado Rising, Erie Protectors, Food & Water Action, Front Range Residents for Environment, Safety, and Health (FRRESH), Larimer Alliance for Health Safety & the Environment, The Lookout Alliance, Mothers Out Front – Colorado, North Range Concerned Citizens, Our Health Our Future Our Longmont, Physicians for Social Responsibility Colorado, Wall of Women Colorado – WOW, Weld Air and Water, WildEarth Guardians, and 350 Colorado

Drilling & fracking near Vista Parkway, Erie, CO

From an Article by Bruce Finley, Denver Post, October 17, 2019

Colorado officials declared they will toughen their oversight of oil and gas drilling and fracking sites following the release Thursday of a multiyear scientific study that found industry operations may expose residents to unhealthy levels of benzene and other chemicals. But industry officials say, “There are no long-term health impacts related to oil and gas development.”

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment study concluded that people living within 2,000 feet of fracking sites could face an elevated risk of short-term health impacts — such as nosebleeds, headaches, breathing trouble and dizziness — in worst-case scenarios.

While benzene has been linked to cancer, state officials said the study, based on measuring of emissions and computer modeling, did not find a basis for predicting long-term health harm.

State regulators said they will immediately begin reviewing more strictly all industry applications to drill new wells within 2,000 feet of homes and start measuring air emissions around industry sites.

“Before this,” the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was not involved in testing air pollution near homes, agency director Jeff Robbins said. “We’re going to do that now. We will use COGCC money.”

Additionally, Colorado House Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, on Thursday called for a comprehensive epidemiological human health study to collect data from across the state to evaluate how oil and gas development affects human health.

After the study’s release, Colorado Petroleum Council director Lynn Granger issued a statement saying protecting the health and safety of workers, communities where companies operate and the environment are top priorities for the industry. Granger claimed the study was “all based on modeling.”

“As an industry, we rely on data, facts and science and look forward to working with CDPHE and the COGCC on actual air monitoring in the future, which is what should be used when developing policy and regulations,” Granger said.

Colorado Oil and Gas Association president Dan Haley said at a news conference that companies are concerned the study will lead to delays in permitting new operations.

“There are no long-term health impacts related to oil and gas development,” Haley said. “Policy needs to be based on real data, not modeling.”

Officials with oil and gas commission could not immediately determine how many wells are located within 2,000 feet of buildings in the state. State data shows that, since 2009, companies have drilled 1,689 wells within 500 to 1,000 feet of buildings; 534 wells within 350 to 500 feet; 317 wells within 150 to 350 feet; and 16 wells within 150 feet.

Push to cut emissions due to health effects

This 380-page study commissioned by the state health department buttresses efforts under Gov. Jared Polis to impose tighter controls on air pollution from the oil and gas industry. The findings jibe with complaints made to the health department since 2015 by 750 residents living near oil and gas facilities, state toxicologist Kristy Richardson said. About 60% of those complaints included reports of short-term health effects including headaches, trouble breathing and dizziness.

The study is expected to help inform state policy for the industry because 2,000 feet is four times farther than the minimum 500-foot buffer zones required under current state “setback” rules.

“This study is the first of its kind because it used actual emissions data to model potential exposure and health risks,” said CDPHE environmental programs director John Putnam. “While we pursue further research, we won’t delay enacting stricter emissions standards for chemicals that cause human effects, ozone pollution and climate change. This study reinforces what we already know: We need to minimize emissions from oil and gas sources.”

Community groups welcomed the study and the tilt toward stricter scrutiny — and called for a pause in new drilling activity near people.

“Dozens of children living in close proximity to oil and gas have already documented off-the-charts levels of benzene in their blood,” said Colorado Rising spokeswoman Anne Lee Foster. “Considering this and the corroborative data of the study, the state must pause oil and gas permitting and ensure that public health and safety is protected — as new legislation mandates.”

At the oil and gas commission, Robbins said he will use his discretionary authority as director to give 39 pending industry applications to drill new wells within 2,000 feet of homes closer scrutiny and that he will contact companies that recently received permits for new drilling to encourage reasonable efforts to minimize air emissions.

Building on the 2017 study of health impacts

The study builds on Colorado’s 2017 health impacts assessment that was based on a review of 27 studies of people living near oil and gas operations — an assessment that found limited and inconsistent evidence of harmful health effects. State health officials made the study available to the public via state websites.

Colorado health officials under former Gov. John Hickenlooper repeatedly assured residents at the time that Colorado’s approach to oil and gas operations near people was adequately protective.

The 2017 assessment also recommended “continued evaluation of health risk using more comprehensive exposure data,” including the direct measurements of pollutants conducted by Colorado State University researchers at oil and gas sites.

A study report summarizes human health risk assessments based on that measuring of chemical emissions, which were conducted at 20 to 30 industry sites in western Colorado and along the northern Front Range.

CSU scientists collected data on 47 chemicals called volatile organic compounds, including benzene. For most of the chemicals, exposures were deemed safe. However, at the 500-foot distance, the highest estimated acute exposures for some of the chemicals — including benzene, toluene and ethyltoluenes — exceeded recommended levels by up to 10 times during oil and gas fracking operations, especially during what industry officials call “flowback activities” at smaller well pads, according to the study.

The scientists determined exposures also hit unhealthy levels at distances of 2,000 feet from some oil and gas facilities.

Study authors indicated they took a “highly conservative” approach in assessing health harm risks from oil and gas industry operations near homes, allowing for worst-case wind conditions and people who are often outside.

For people who are not regularly outside over more than a year, the risks of “chronic” health harm were found to be less severe for all the chemicals measured at the 500-foot distance — with the exception of those called trimethylbenzenes, which are released during the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, that companies use to increase extraction of fossil fuels. The levels of harmful chemicals were found to be higher at smaller well pads.

Study authors did not address the health risks for people living near large multi-well pads. And they did not recommend a safe buffer zone distance that would be protective of public health.

Colorado residents who have complained for years about health effects said the study’s findings legitimate their concerns.

“Scores of impacted Coloradans have long documented their experiences and health impacts of living with oil and gas with the state, and have been ignored,” said Sara Loflin, director of the League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans. “It is time that any proposed oil and gas development within 2,000 feet of a home or occupied building be put on hold and delayed or denied by the COGCC.”

Earth Guardians are determined to reduce risks to public health

From an Article by Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch.com, January 15, 2019

PHOTO: Emma Bray (19) of Denver, a plaintiff on the youth-led climate lawsuit, Martinez v. COGCC.

Colorado’s oil and gas industry breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after the state’s highest court overturned a lower court decision that said state regulators must consider public health and the environment in permitting oil and gas production.

The unanimous ruling was a disappointment for the teenage plaintiffs, including high-profile climate activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, who led the closely watched lawsuit against the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

“To know that the judges in the highest court of my state believe that the interests of the oil and gas industry come before the public health, safety and welfare of my fellow Coloradans is shameful,” the 18-year-old from Boulder said in a press release.

“But,” Martinez added, “I want you all to know that this fight for climate justice is far from over. My fellow plaintiffs, youth around the world, and I will continue to stand up for our right to a healthy future.”

The lawsuit—backed by Our Children’s Trust, the same non-profit supporting the young plaintiffs in the landmark federal lawsuit Juliana v. United States — was originally filed in November 2013 on behalf of seven young Coloradans who are all members of the Boulder-based youth group Earth Guardians.

They demanded that the COGCC refuse oil and gas development permits “unless the best available science demonstrates, and an independent, third-party organization confirms, that drilling can occur in a manner that does not cumulatively, with other actions, impair Colorado’s atmosphere, water, wildlife, and land resources, does not adversely impact human health, and does not contribute to climate change.”

Ultimately, as the Colorado Sun noted, the activists were hoping to stamp out Colorado’s oil and gas activists and prompt a “state-wide ban on fracking,” as then-13-year-old Martinez explained.

Instead, Justice Richard Gabriel ruled Monday that current state law requires regulators to balance oil and gas development with protecting public health, the environment and wildlife.

The decision states: “[T]he pertinent provisions make clear that the Commission is required (1) to foster the development of oil and gas resources, protecting and enforcing the rights of owners and producers, and (2) in doing so, to prevent and mitigate significant adverse environmental impacts to the extent necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare, but only after taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility.”

Basically, the ruling upholds the “Colorado way of doing business,” Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said as quoted by The Denver Post. He added that under state law, the COGCC’s regulations for the oil and natural gas industry are the most extensive and stringent in the country.

For fracking opponents, it’s the law itself that’s the problem. Julia Olson, the executive director of Our Children’s Trust and co-counsel for youth plaintiffs, stated that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Act makes it clear that the rule should be “amended or set aside as unconstitutional” as it allows “unfettered discretion to promote Colorado’s dangerous and pervasive oil and gas development at the expense of the people.”

Undeterred by the ruling, State House Speaker KC Becker said she will work to change Colorado law so the fossil fuel industry will do more to protect public health and the environment, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. “It puts the decision back into the hands of lawmakers to take action and we are committed to addressing this concern this legislative session,” Becker also tweeted.

In an online statement, new Gov. Jared Polis — who wants to transition Colorado to 100 percent renewable energy by 2040 — said he was “disappointed” by the court’s ruling. He noted, “it only highlights the need to work with the Legislature and the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission to more safely develop our state’s natural resources and protect our citizens from harm.”

The plaintiffs also remain optimistic. “The last couple years have proven that youth have the opportunity to be heard in the courts and the community. Not a single person, company or corporation can silence the young generation’s voices,” Emma Bray, 19-year-old plaintiff from Denver, said in a press release. “We will continue the fight for our Earth and our future, despite the mountains we need to climb and the setbacks that we will overcome. Regardless of the court’s decision in our case, the fight will continue.”

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SEE ALSO: W.Va. Supreme Court To Hear Natural Gas Nuisance Case | West Virginia Public Broadcasting, January 14, 2019

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SEE ALSO: LAW: Pipeline wars arrive at U.S. Supreme Court. What’s next? — E & E News — January 16, 2019

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Colorado’s new Governor Jared Polis supported Proposition 112

From an Article by Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch.com, November 7, 2018

Democratic Colorado Governor-elect Jared Polis arrives onstage with running mate Dianne Primavera on November 6th in Denver. Jared Polis, who won Colorado’s gubernatorial race to become the nation’s first openly gay governor-elect, is charting the state’s bold path towards clean energy.

The Democrat, who has served in the House of Representatives since 2009, ran on a platform of transitioning Colorado to 100 percent renewable energy by 2040 — the most ambitious renewable goal in the entire country, Climate Home News reported. That’s even faster than California and Hawaii, which both aim to phase out of fossil fuel generation by 2045.

On his campaign website, Polis said the green energy transition would create tens of thousands of jobs and save consumers 10 percent on energy costs. Pointing to a government study, he said that utility-scale wind is now cheaper than natural gas and that new energy storage technology would further improve these cost benefits. That’s not to mention the public health benefits of cleaner air and water.

Aside from a strong environmental platform, Polis campaigned on other progressive issues such as Medicare-for-all, paid family medical leave and stronger gun laws.

“At the end of the day we all believe in our children’s future, we all believe in protecting our amazing parks and open space, we all believe in saving people money in health care,” Polis said in his victory speech Tuesday night. “And together we are going to get back to work because we have work to do to turn a bold vision into reality here in our amazing state of Colorado.”

The fossil fuel industry has a major presence in the Centennial State — the sixth largest and one of the fastest-growing U.S. oil producing states. Oil and gas companies and their supporters poured about $40 million into a campaign to help successfully defeat Proposition 112, according to the Colorado Sun. The ballot initiative, which Polis supported, would have banned oil and gas drilling on 85 percent of the state’s land, but was voted down 57 percent to 43 percent on Tuesday.

But with a Democrat in the governor’s seat, a Democratic-controlled legislature and the 825,000 Coloradan voters who supported 112, the fight against polluting energy companies is not over yet. Polis had the endorsement of the Colorado Sierra Club, which praised his plans to make Colorado energy independent and his efforts to protect the state’s outdoor spaces.

“The Colorado Sierra Club — with 100,000 members and supports across the state — threw our wholehearted support behind Jared Polis from the early days of his candidacy because of his leadership on climate and protection of public lands,” club director Jim Alexee said in a press release. “As the Trump Administration rolls back critical pollution protections and tries to stifle our nation’s clean energy leadership, the state of Colorado is moving forward with our clean energy future with Jared Polis as our Governor.”

The club also praised Polis for being a leader on environmental issues during his time in Congress. The press release noted that Polis is a founding member of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, that he introduced legislation to designate 90,000 acres of wilderness in Colorado’s high country, led the effort to cut fossil fuel subsidies, defended President Obama’s rules on methane and partnered with environmentalists and ranchers to protect the sage grouse’s habitat.

“The Sierra Club was proud to support Jared Polis throughout this race and we are thrilled to congratulate him on this victory,” National Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in the press release. “Coloradans made a clear choice in this election to support Jared Polis because he will defend Colorado values from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope. Jared will lead Colorado to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2040, and work to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”

>>> Jared Polis speaks after defeating Walker Stapleton in Colorado’s gubernatorial race. See the video here: https://youtu.be/NUEfqkhHP_k

Public health versus corporate profits in Colorado

From an Article by John Aguilar, Denver Post Newspaper, October 16, 2018

The fight over Prop. 112 has lured big money and clashes over interpretation of health studies.

“The OEHHA chronic benzene REL considers several studies published after USEPA’s 2002 benzene assessment, which found increased efficiency of benzene metabolism at low doses, decreased peripheral blood cell counts at low doses (800−1860 μg/m3)…”

It takes another 20 words — with terms like “metabolic enzymes” and “benzene detoxification” — to close out this sentence from a recent University of Colorado study that looked at the potential health impacts of Front Range oil and gas operations. Thousands of equally abstruse passages fill hundreds of other studies from around the world examining the effects of drilling and hydraulic fracturing on human health.

Welcome to the science behind Proposition 112, the oil and gas setbacks measure that will likely be among the most complex ballot issues to ever go before Colorado voters.

The initiative aims to increase the required distance of any newly drilled wells from homes, schools and water sources to 2,500 feet. The current setback is 500 feet from homes and 1,000 feet from densely occupied buildings, like hospitals and schools.

Opponents say the measure will block off so much acreage to drill rigs — it’s estimated that 85 percent of non-federal land in Colorado would be off-limits — that the $31 billion industry in Colorado would virtually collapse.

Backers of 112 say without bigger buffers, Coloradans will continue to be exposed to noxious emissions from well sites, like toluene, formaldehyde, xylene, and cancer-causing benzene, to say nothing of the environmental harm from potent greenhouse gases, like methane.

What is the average voter supposed to do with the reams of data, some in conflict with one another, in deciding whether Proposition 112 is critical to public health or ruinous to Colorado’s economy?

“It’s hard when we ask voters to vote on technical issues like this,” said Tanya Heikkila, a professor at CU Denver’s School of Public Affairs who focuses on environmental policy, management and law.

She said few voters have the time, patience or expertise to navigate through the copious scientific research that has been done on energy extraction. As such, she said, they’ll likely turn to the people they know for advice on which box to check on the ballot — their friends, their neighbors, their doctor.

“I don’t think people’s decision on this will come down to what the science says — it will come down to who they trust,” Heikkila said.

It’s also likely, she said, that voters will employ “motivated reasoning” or be swayed by “confirmation bias” to make their choice on Proposition 112.

“Cognitive research has shown that when people are emotionally attached to an issue, it’s easier to reason away or dismiss the information that contradicts those beliefs — or conversely use information that supports their beliefs to confirm those beliefs,” Heikkila said.

Arguments from each camp are compelling, she said, and voters may find virtue on both sides of the issue.

“No one wants to be exposed to carcinogens, to noise, to (truck) traffic,” she said. “At the same time, when people say 112 is going to cost them their jobs and ruin the tax base, that resonates too.”

“Something is happening here”

Anne Lee Foster, who is with the pro-112 group Colorado Rising, knows she can’t fight the oil and gas industry on the financial front. As of the most recent reporting period from late September, the anti-112 group Protect Colorado had dropped just over $20 million on its battle against the measure, while Colorado Rising had spent less than $650,000.

Foster hopes science speaks louder than cash. She and her allies point to a compendium of studies — now numbering more than 1,300 — that are assembled and updated on the Physicians for Social Responsibility website. The studies have examined one aspect or another of fracking’s harms and risks, pointing out connections to cancer, low birth-weight babies, asthma, headaches and bloody noses for families living near oil and gas wells.

Industry lobby outspending concerned citizens

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Driven by Trump Policy Changes, Fracking Booms on Public Lands – The New York Times

Smoke From California Wildfires Is Reaching the East Coast

From an Article by Jennifer Calfas, Time Magazine, August 10, 2018

Smoke billowing from the destructive fires burning through California this summer has spread far beyond the Golden State — reaching the East Coast.

The National Weather Service says smoke from the raging fires out West has impacted cities thousands of miles away — and the atmosphere above them. Residents in states like Missouri, Ohio, Mississippi, Virginia and even New York and Massachusetts can see the smoke manifest itself through grey skies and vibrant sunsets, the National Weather Service says. And those in fewer states throughout the Midwest, South and East Coast are breathing in air that has been impacted by the smoke as well.

But how exactly does smoke travel this far? Andy Edman, chief of the science technology infusion division at the National Weather Service, says small particles of smoke that come from the fires can stay in the air and move through the Earth’s atmosphere — all the way to the East Coast. The smoke sits more than a mile above the Earth’s surface, but can move down through strong winds called jet streams and have an impact on air quality.

“Where the smoke is in the atmosphere will make a difference on the impact a human being will receive,” Edman says. For example, with the smoke far from the Earth’s surface, Edman says, “if you’re in D.C. or New York, if you walk outside, it will all seem sunny but if you look up at the sky, it will be grey.”

The National Weather Service has two relevant maps that explores the issue. One below shows the path of “vertically integrated smoke” — that is, the smoke that sits far above Earth’s surface in the atmosphere and impacts the sky you see above you.

The other map below shows the movement of “near-surface smoke,” which, as its name suggests, shows the levels of smoke near the Earth’s surface that have an impact on air quality.

Particles from smoke near the Earth’s surface can cause a range of health issues, including respiratory problems, and aggravate lung and heart issues. Officials advise people living in areas impacted by the smoke to take safety measures by staying in doors and running air conditioning units.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured images of smoke from these fires from space earlier this week, showing the smoke’s eastward shift and massive reach. Edman, of the National Weather Service, says not all fires can create this long-ranging stream of smoke, but the cumulation of fire after fire after fire in the state has made it possible this time around.

“When you have that many fires, it’s not uncommon for that smoke to go fairly long ways downstream,” Edman says.

Smoke particles from fires in California traveled far last year, too, when satellite images from NASA showed the smoke traveling over to the East Coast. Thanks to new technology, Edman says, the National Weather Service has been better able to track the movement of smoke across the U.S. from fires based in California, capturing it in visualizations and maps for just a few years now.

Meanwhile, in California, 15 active wildfires are burning throughout the state as a destructive and record-breaking fire season rages on. The Mendocino Complex fire just north of San Francisco became the largest fire in state history earlier this week, scorching through 307,447 acres and destroying 119 homes as of Friday morning. Other fires have blazed through tens of thousands of acres across the state. That includes the 181,000-acre Carr fire, which has destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Redding, Calif., and taken at least eight lives. The Ferguson fire blazing near Yosemite National Park prompted park officials to close popular sections of itfor the first time in 20 years (and during peak season), and the Holy fire down in Orange County forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

Fueled by extremely dry vegetation, record-setting temperatures and the aftermath of a years-long drought, fire seasons in California have grown more intense in recent years and death and destruction has become the norm.

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See also: “Colorado wildfire update: Smoke and haze continue to cloak the state.” By Anna Staver, August 20, 2018

Smoke and haze will be visible throughout Colorado on Monday as firefighters across the west continue to work to put out dozens of wildfires. It’s been a difficult season for wildland firefighters around the county. In Colorado, five fires that started this season grew large enough to make the state’s top 20 list. Presently, 12 wildfires are burning in the Centennial State, but most are at 90 percent containment. Here’s a roundup of major wildfires around Colorado.

The “front range” in eastern Colorado is residential

By Alex Nussbaum and Catherine Traywick, World Oil, 7/23/2018

NEW YORK and DENVER (Bloomberg) — For Colorado shale drillers, 2018’s been a record-setter for pumping oil and natural gas. It may also end up a banner year for the industry’s political foes.

Spurred on by a fatal gas explosion last year, industry critics are pushing an initiative for November’s ballot that may ban drilling in more than half the state, endangering output from one of the country’s most prolific drilling plays. The contest for governor, meanwhile, features a Democrat, U.S. Representative Jared Polis, who made his name in Colorado politics by bankrolling anti-fracking campaigns.

The contests could mark a turning point in the long-running battle over drilling in Colorado, a politically mixed state where explorers, environmentalists and local residents have clashed as in few other places. With polls showing a “blue wave” of support for Democrats nationwide, Polis and the ballot initiative both stand a good chance, leaving the industry’s future up in the air, according to Height Securities LLC.

“The November election in Colorado is likely an inflection point for the state’s oil and gas industry,” Height analysts Katie Bays and Josh Prico wrote in a July 11 research note. That could have “market-moving consequences” for producers with a major Colorado presence like Noble Energy, Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. and Anadarko Petroleum, they said.

As a counterpunch, business groups have pitched their own set of ballot questions that would require property owners be compensated for any loss in the market value of drilling rights due to new regulations. That could hobble local government efforts to clamp down, said Welles Fitzpatrick, an analyst for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc.

All the initiatives face an August 6th deadline to gather enough signatures to make it onto the ballot. For voters here, the controversy is nothing new.

Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have propelled Colorado into the upper echelon of oil and gas producers nationwide — and run smack into the growing population in the Denver suburbs and the Front Range region along the Rockies. The state produced a record 450,000 bpd of crude in April and 149 billion cu ft of natural gas, just shy of the all-time high, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

The industry’s biggest worry this year is Initiative 97, a proposal to expand the buffer zone required between oil and gas wells and homes, schools and other occupied structures. The initiative would mandate a 2,500-foot setback, up from 500 ft today.

More significantly, it would extend the requirement to cover lakes, streams, parks, open space and a variety of other “vulnerable areas.” Altogether, more than 54% of the state’s land area would be off-limits to new drilling, according to an analysis by the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. In Colorado’s top five producing counties, 61% of acreage would be inaccessible.

“That is effectively a ban on the industry,” Dan Haley, president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, an industry group, said in an interview. “You’d basically have no new wells drilled in Colorado.”

A similar proposal in 2016 failed to gain enough signatures to make it onto the ballot. But 2018 may be different, in part due to last year’s fatal accident in Firestone, north of Denver. Two men died and a woman was injured in a home explosion that was linked to an abandoned gas line.

The tragedy “made people understand the dangers of having toxic, industrial oil and gas operations right in the middle of our neighborhoods,” said Micah Parkin of Colorado Rising, a group backing Initiative 97. “Why should the industry get special treatment?”

The proposal wouldn’t end drilling in Colorado, Parkin said. Federal land, which covers about a third of the state, would be exempt from the buffers. And explorers can drill horizontal wells, allowing access to reserves even if the property directly above is off-limits, she said.

Even if the measure wins approval, the state’s legislature could still move to soften the blow. Republicans who’ve generally opposed more regulation of the industry have a slim majority in the state Senate, although that too could change after November’s election.

Energy and natural resources generated more than $13 billion and supported 150,000 jobs in Colorado last year, according to state figures. Initiative 97 is enough of a threat that even Polis, the Democrat who’s championed past drilling restrictions, has come out against it.

The millionaire businessman from Boulder helped finance campaigns in 2014 to tighten regulations on fracking, although they failed to make it onto the ballot. This time around, he’s dialed down some of his criticism as he seeks support across the state. His website trumpets his plans to generate 100% of the state’s energy from renewable sources by 2040. But it makes no mention of fracking, pro or con. Polis declined a request for an interview.

His Republican opponent, state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, also opposes Initiative 97. His website promises he’ll promote a “low-cost energy supply” and avoid “burdensome, job-killing regulations.”

Polis led Stapleton among likely voters, 42% to 37%, in a June poll commissioned by a Colorado labor union. The Democrat understands the state can’t afford to undermine the industry, said Fitzpatrick, the SunTrust analyst.

“He has had his come-to-Jesus moment where he can either pick his crusade against oil and gas or he can pick every other pillar in his platform,” he said. “Is he going to shoot himself in the foot because he doesn’t like oil and gas? I find that hard to believe.”

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Fracking is dangerous and not a vote-getter in New York State

Editorial, Hudson Valley (NY) Times-Herald Record, July 25, 2018

Politicians should not talk about things they don’t understand. Case in point — Republican Marc Molinaro’s support of hydraulic fracturing in New York as part of what he calls a “closely monitored” test program in the Southern Tier.

You know why he is doing this. The person most often associated with the state’s fracking ban is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his Democratic opponent in this year’s election. For those who do not want to look too deeply into the issue, fracking has always been an attractive bright shiny object, offering energy independence and revenue with manageable environmental challenges.

In truth, it is very hard to frack without having many serious detrimental effects, including earthquakes and water pollution.

The state Health Department made the plausible case in 2014 that there was no way to provide adequate safeguards based on experiences in other states. Since then, the state’s focus has been on a shift to renewable resources, to investments in solar, air and hydro that would take the place of plants fed by any fossil fuels, including the gas that fracking produces. Investing in one means not investing in the other.

Molinaro is misleading people, and perhaps misleading himself, if he believes that a small-scale experimental operation would provide any information that would be relevant to fracking on a scale that might make economic sense.

The danger from fracking does not come from a few sites located far away from populated areas. It comes from the enormous impact that industrial-scale fracking has on the underground aquifers vulnerable to pollution. It comes in the well-documented dangers to wells and other local water supplies that those aquifers supply. And it come in even more dangerous forms in the need to create a massive infrastructure to treat the millions and millions of gallons of wastewater that fracking requires to break rock layers far below ground and then bring the fuels up.

A small convoy of tanker trucks might be able to cart away that waste water from a small experimental site. But for fracking to be worthwhile to those who want to invest, the scale would have to be enlarged to the point where treating the wastewater would be prohibitively expensive.

The Southern Tier, where Molinaro would try this experiment, is too densely populated to allow any room for error and as the number of sites increases, so do the potential detrimental effects.

Having studied and voted on this issue when he was in the Legislature, Molinaro knows or should know all this. That indicates that the proposal is more political than anything else, an attempt to get votes from those who are dissatisfied with Cuomo over the fracking ban. But those people already are not inclined to re-elect the governor, making this a wasted effort that only exposes Molinaro’s desperation as polls show him so far behind that he is not likely to catch up and donors reading those polls hold back, leaving him at even more of a disadvantage.

It’s still early, but so far the main component of Molinaro’s campaign seems to be that his is not Andrew Cuomo, something all of us already knew.