Aspen (c91) News

CLEARING THE AIR

State Report Links Gas Industry to Air Pollution

By David Frey, 9-28-06

Locals have long suspected it, but a recent state report confirms it. Those western Colorado blue skies are a little hazier thanks to the booming natural gas industry. A recent report by the Colorado Air Quality Commission points to oil and gas development as the main source of air pollution in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.

The report points to compressor stations and vehicle emissions as the main sources of carbon monoxide in the region, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which writes about the report.

The report points to the energy industry’s “direct emissions, support service impacts and associated growth” outpacing old contributors of pollution in rural areas, like wood burning, street sanding and driving on dirt roads.

“These ‘area’ sources were addressed in many Western Slope communities and are no longer as significant as the impacts from energy development,” it says.

It’s not the first time the energy industry has been blamed for air quality problems. It’s been pointed to as a contributor to haze in the Denver area, with culprits being fingered as far away as Wyoming’s Jonah Field.

The state is considering emissions controls to reduce ozone emissions from storage units, and they’re eying tighter controls in the Front Range counties of Weld and Adams, where heavy oil activity has been linked to smog.

The Rocky Mountain News is predicting another year of record revenues to the state from the oil and gas industry. Property taxes, royalties, rent and other bonuses are expected to be up 19 percent from last year, to $342 million. The state has already pocketed a record $202 million in severance tax – up almost 50 percent.

That’s good news for state coffers, but critics say it doesn’t weigh the hidden costs of drilling.

“Net revenues must account for the hidden costs from drilling,” Pete Morton, an economist with The Wilderness Society, tells the Rocky, “such as the increase in road maintenance and law enforcement costs to communities, the costs from increased air and water pollution, the decline in quality of life for homeowners with drilling rigs in their backyards and the potential loss of hunting, fishing and recreation revenues.”

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