State to Ratchet Down on Oil and Gas Industry

Tomorrow, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division is slated to ask the Air Quality Control Commission to initiate rulemaking to adopt stronger ozone pollution controls in the Denver metro area. If adopted, the rulemaking wil require the oil and gas industry to reduce smog forming compuond emissions from condensate tanks by 95%, do more to reduce emissions from leaky pipes, and require a 38% reduction in smog forming compounds from natural gas processing plants.

This rule is needed now, more than ever. Uncontrolled emissions of smog forming compounds from oil and gas developments are expected to increase by as much as 100% by 2008. The oil and gas industry also releases nearly 1/3 of all smog forming compounds, which react with sunlight quickly to form ozone, more than any other source in the Denver metro area.

The Black-Gray Cloud Spewing from this Condensate Tank
Consists of Smog Forming Compounds.

With the health of Denver metro communities on the line, as well as the possibility of being slapped with more stringent regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the proposed ratcheting down on the oil and gas industry should easily be approved by the Air Quality Control Commission.