This month (May 2014), ground-breaking new regulations start taking effect in Colorado to cap methane emissions from oil and gas drilling sites.
Groundbreaking, because they’re the first ever in the country, and because of the rare collaboration between industry, environmentalists and state leaders which led to the rules.
Our Inside Energy reporter Dan Boyce takes a look.
Gary Graham works with a Boulder-based environmental group called Western Resource Advocates. He was in on the negotiations that brought about these new regs
“Well, you know, if you’re out traveling around, particularly in Weld County…”
On his computer, he shows two pictures of holding tanks at a drilling operation, side by side.
“And you see these big storage tanks and you assume they’re all just contained and clean…”
The picture on the left--one of these tanks as you would see them out in the field. A big beige canister, simple metal stairs bolted to the side. Not much happening.
Image on the right, though--same thing but black and white, taken with an infa-red camera. The top of the tank here, it looks like a smokestack.
“All that’s methane coming out.”
Or, to be more specific, it’s methane vapors leaking out. From worn out seals, defective gaskets. It’s one of the most potent greenhouse gases. And there are all kinds of other compounds leaking too that lead to the formation of ozone.
“Let me get in my car here, I’m just leaving a patient’s home.”
Registered Nurse Marcia Free is on her cell phone. She lives in Greeley, a hotspot of oil and gas development in Northern Colorado.
“Coughing, throat irritations, congestion…"
She’s listing some of the health effects of ozone.
“It can worsen bronchitis, emphezema, asthma…”
in fact a newly released study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows these air pollutant levels in Denver and Northern Colorado were three times higher than anticipated. These leaks, called “fugitive emissions”, are exactly where Colorado’s new regulations are cracking down.
“It’s a very significant accomplishment.”
Will Allison is the Director of Colorado’s Air Pollution Division. The state has been working intensively on these regs for more than a year.
“Five days of hearings, back to back to back in front of our air quality control commission.”
Meetings, drafts, compromises, for months. Finally, in November, they reached consensus. Oil and gas companies have to fix leaks and capture 95% of emissions.
Proponents say look, it’s good for the environment. And capturing more of these gases, that’s more fuel the companies can sell, making back the money they spent fixing the leaks. It’s a win-win, right? Well, when economist Alan Krupnick looks at it, he says ehhhh, I don’t know, maybe.
“If it’s so profitable to do that, to capture this methane, why aren’t the companies doing it now.”
To be fair, some companies have been doing it, but Krupnick - a senior fellow at the nonpartisan think tank Resources for the Future - thinks industry has another incentive.
“They’re doing this to improve their image.”
Oil and gas are taking a lot of heat right now, especially in Colorado. Fracking bans in some towns…. the potential of similar ballot initiatives in November. Krupnick believes the industry is trying to boost its approval ratings on the environment.
Encana is one of the energy companies that helped craft the new methane regs. They’re one of the biggest oil producers in the state.
“We operate about 4,000 wells here in Colorado.”
Spokesman Doug Hock says Encana does take its public reputation very seriously. Here’s what he likes about the regs, though. They’re feasible.
“Economically feasible.”
And technically feasible.
“As simple as tightening a valve or replacing a part, I mean these are not complicated fixes.”
Certainly, not everyone is on board with these rules. On one side, some smaller oil companies have called them an unfair burden. On the other, you have people like Greeley Nurse Marcia Free, who think they don’t go far enough.
“They just make a bad situation less bad, they don’t eliminate the problem.”
But Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper argues it’s an important step in protecting the state from the ill effects of drilling..
“It’ll be the equivalent as if you took all the automobiles off the highways in Colorado.”
Politicians on both sides of the aisle are touting America’s natural gas boom as a path toward a cleaner energy future. It will be hard to make that argument if these fugitive emissions keep escaping.
