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How translating for the Grizzly Creek Fire helped Elizabeth Velasco advocate for environmental justice and climate action.

Conservation and community organizations respond to COGCC’s new draft rules to implement SB19-181, Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operation.

Conservation Colorado released the Colorado delegation’s scores on the League of Conservation Voters’ 2019 National Environmental Scorecard.

Colorado has taken huge steps to cut carbon emissions from electricity and transportation. But have we taken the same bold actions across all sectors? Click here to find out!

DENVER — Today, the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) voted unanimously to adopt new emissions rules for the oil and gas industry. These rules come in the same week that the Environmental Protection Agency downgraded the Front Range’s air quality rating to “serious.” They focus on reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry which makes up a significant amount of Colorado’s climate change-causing emissions. 

Across Colorado, conservation and community groups have come together in support of stronger methane rules. These improvements include requiring stronger well leak detection, repair and tank control requirements for low-producing wells and cutting emissions from the transmission sector. Curbing methane pollution is key to Colorado improving its air quality and meeting its carbon emissions reduction targets of 50 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050. 

Specifically, these regulatory updates will: 

  • Enhance statewide leak detection and repair requirements at a minimum twice annually for all oil and gas infrastructure — including low-producing wells; 
  • Expand “find and fix” requirements to prevent leaks from pneumatic devices which move gas, oil, or other liquids; 
  • Close the 90-day permitting loophole that allows oil and gas drilling to move forward without an air permit creating better transparency and accountability early in the drilling process;  
  • Strengthen statewide requirements to reduce emissions from storage tanks — including low-producing wells; 
  • Develop a first-of-its-kind, performance-based standard for reducing emissions in the natural gas transmission and storage sector;  
  • Create new annual reporting requirements for oil and gas producers of methane emissions from all their facilities and activities.  

Conservation and community organizations released the following statements in response:

“Western Colorado Alliance thanks the Air Quality Control Commission for adopting these new regulations. The Alliance looks forward to playing our part in minimizing climate change and having the air quality here in Western Colorado protected from the harmful emissions of the oil and gas industry just as it is on the Front Range.”

       –  Rodger Steen, Western Colorado Alliance oil and gas committee chair, Routt County

 

“Our community has worked for years to protect air quality on the West Slope and here in Battlement Mesa, where we’re surrounded by well pads. We thank the Air Quality Control Commission for listening to our concerns and adopting additional leak detection and repair requirements for oil and gas facilities within 1,000 feet of for neighborhoods, schools and other public areas. Everyone living near a well will appreciate this significant and courageous action by the AQCC, as well as the new statewide rules to reduce ozone and methane emissions.” 

       – Dave Devanney, Battlement Concerned Citizens

 

“Since air knows no political boundaries, any source of air pollution in Colorado is of concern to all citizens who want their families to breathe clean air. The Air Quality Control Commission heard the concerns of citizens all across the state and took action today by implementing statewide regulations to cut ozone and methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.”

       – Leslie Robinson, Rifle, Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, Garfield County

 

“Residents of Western Colorado appreciate the Air Quality Control Commission’s decision to adopt these new rules and apply them statewide. This is a great step forward in protecting the air quality here in Western Colorado. We have been and will continue to be impacted by oil and gas development. These regulations will help to protect public health as we move into the future.”

       – Bennett Boeschenstein, former Grand Junction city council member, Mesa County

 

“Western Slope Coloradans live under a methane cloud that threatens both our health and environment, and so we need the same air quality protections as those living on the Front Range. We appreciate that the commissioners have listened to our concerns, and thank the AQCC for enacting strong methane regulations with enhanced leak testing and repair requirements, as well as stronger standards for storage and reporting.” 

       – Mark Pearson, Executive Director, San Juan Citizens Alliance

 

“The commonsense policies adopted today by Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission are an important step toward cleaning up our air and fighting climate change at its source. Thank you to Governor Polis and his entire administration for working to protect public health, hold corporate polluters accountable, and preserve our Colorado way of life.”

       – Kelly Nordini, Executive Director, Conservation Colorado

 

“Every Coloradan deserves to breathe clean air, and the rules adopted today by the AQCC will lead to direct improvements in Colorado’s air quality while supporting the state with reaching its climate goals. We applaud the AQCC for pursuing these smart regulations and for prioritizing Coloradans’ health, our air, and our climate.”

       – Joro Walker, general counsel, Western Resource Advocates

 

“Colorado has been the leader in the nation in establishing the rules to cut methane emissions during the production of gas and oil.  Colorado can again lead the nation, as the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission prepares to address the proposed regulations, to ‘find and fix’ methane leaks in the drilling and production of gas and oil. Since the initial rules were adopted, the number of scientific studies on this topic has significantly increased. The scientific research has increasingly establishing the harmful effects to the health and wellbeing of people, especially children, living in close proximity to the drilling rigs,compressors and pipelines.

This is a profound opportunity for the Commission to positively impact the health of Coloradoans, now and for future generations.  The Colorado Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, ANHE, strongly urges the Commissioners to seize this opportunity and adopt the stronger standards state wide.”

        – V. Sean Mitchell, MSN, APRN-BC Colorado Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments 

 

“This is such an important day, and we applaud the commission for truly taking into account public health and safety. Monitoring and inspecting all oil and gas sites, but particularly those in close proximity to homes, schools, and public areas for leaks and emissions is a critical component of that. We thank the commission for hearing the voices of hundreds impacted Coloradans and taking this major step today.” 

       – Sara Loflin, LOGIC Executive Director

To help us get a better idea of what new stronger methane rules will do and what they will mean for Colorado, we sat down with our advocate Sophia Mayott-Guerrero.

Joint ad pushes Sen. Gardner to stand up for Colorado’s clean air and climate, not corporate polluters

DENVER — This week, Conservation Coloradothe state’s largest environmental advocacy organizationand the grassroots organization Rocky Mountain Values launched a new television commercial that pushes Sen. Cory Gardner to support policy and funding to protect our environment and clean air. The ad comes two weeks after Senator Gardner’s recent vote that will repeal important federal progress on clean air policy and reflects the growing frustration that Colorado families have with politicians like Senator Cory Gardner, who acts in favor of special interests.

The effort is a part of Conservation Colorado’s new seven-figure accountability effort urging Senator Gardner to stand up for Coloradans who want clean air and a healthy climate, not for big corporate polluters. In addition to the new television commercial, the campaign also includes on-the-ground organizing in Aurora, Fort Collins, Greeley and Pueblo and other paid communications to educate Coloradans about Gardner’s record to get him to vote in favor of environmental protection.

“Senator Cory Gardner told us he’d protect Colorado’s clean air but went to Washington and helped dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to combat air pollution,” said Kelly Nordini, Executive Director of Conservation Colorado. “Colorado is at the forefront of climate impacts, and our state is a national leader in addressing the climate crisis. Unfortunately, Senator Gardner’s record shows he has been more willing to do what special interests and lobbyists in Washington want than to listen to his constituents back home. Senator Gardner must step up to change that.”

“Coloradans, like all Americans, value clean air,” said Alvina Vasquez, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Values. “Less than two weeks ago Senator Gardner took a vote to block the Clean Power Plan, which would have stopped corporate polluters from dirtying our air—proving once again that he will continue taking votes that hurt Colorado. We hoped that Senator Gardner would stand by his promise to protect our environment, but instead, he continues his pattern of broken promises and bad votes. We need Senator Gardner, and all of our elected officials, to prioritize Coloradans’ clean air now. ”

In Washington, Sen. Gardner helped dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to combat air pollution, allowing power plants to burn coal waste without complying with clean air rules. And while Coloradans’ health suffered as a result, Sen. Gardner raked in the cash—including more than $1.4 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. That investment continues to pay dividends for big corporate polluters. And just this month, Sen. Gardner voted to allow Trump’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan to move forward, paving the way for coal plants to stay open longer and blocking progress for wind and solar power—energy sources that Coloradans overwhelmingly support.

“Frontline communities can’t write big checks like big polluters, but we can organize,” said Juan Gallegos, director of Protégete. “Latinx Coloradans deserve a seat at the table and for Senator Gardner to listen to us, vote with us, and put Colorado on a path to a clean energy future.”

Just last week, Colorado’s AQCC voted to adopt a Zero Emission Vehicle standard which will bring help Coloradans breathe easier and bring more EVs to CO.