{"id":44651,"date":"2021-09-20T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-regulators-move-forward-with-controversial-rule-to-slash-gas-emissions\/"},"modified":"2021-09-20T16:12:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:12:00","slug":"colorado-regulators-move-forward-with-controversial-rule-to-slash-gas-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-regulators-move-forward-with-controversial-rule-to-slash-gas-emissions\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado regulators move forward with controversial rule to slash gas emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An
An oil and gas pump jack is pictured west of Ault on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (Andy Colwell\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>Andy Colwell\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Colorado air quality regulators will move forward with a controversial, first-in-the-nation rule to curb greenhouse gas releases from oil and gas operators based on the intensity of emissions relative to their production.<\/p>\n

In the face of opposition from some local officials and environmental groups, the Air Quality Control Commission voted on Friday to set a December hearing on the proposed \u201cgreenhouse gas intensity target\u201d rule, which would go into effect in 2023.<\/p>\n

Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones called the approach \u201cunproven, inaccurate and costly\u201d in comments to the commission, and he criticized the two-year timetable for implementing the rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have time to wait,\u201d Jones said. \u201cRight now, put in place the strongest proven protections you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed rule,<\/a> developed by the Air Pollution Control Division, would set an emission limit per 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent (defined as oil plus natural gas) produced. There would be a target for large operators and a less restrictive one for small operators.<\/p>\n

\u201cA methane intensity rule is simply not going to cut it,\u201d said Andrew Forkes-Gudmunson, deputy director of the League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans, an umbrella organization for grass-roots community groups, told the commission.<\/p>\n

Big cuts in the oil and gas sector are key to meeting the statutory goal of trimming Colorado\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions 26% over 2005 levels in 2025; 50% by 2030; and 90% by 2050 under the administration\u2019s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap.<\/p>\n

Forkes-Gudmunson, like several others who offered comments to the commission, called for the use of direct regulations that would get emission reductions in the short term.<\/p>\n

While critics took aim at the intensity rule, Robyn Wille, the Air Pollution Control Division\u2019s chief strategy officer, told the commission that it is only one element in a large package of rules, including direct regulations, that would be part of the rulemaking.<\/p>\n

Among the other proposed rules are ones to tighten emissions during well maintenance, monthly leak detection and repair requirements, emission controls on pipeline maintenance activities, and new controls on site equipment.<\/p>\n

The intensity target, Wille said, \u201cis on top of everything else that has been done \u2026 this is to catch everything else that we haven\u2019t caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the hesitancy, but we can\u2019t be doing the same thing over and over,\u201d Wille said. \u201cWe have to be innovative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wille said that to the division\u2019s knowledge no other regulator has tried to implement an oil and gas intensity rule.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Martha Rudolph said that the air division must make a greater effort to put the intensity rules into the context of the overall regulatory proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere remains confusion and concern out there,\u201d Rudolph said. \u201cI am concerned that the information that is spreading out there may become a problem in the rulemaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil and gas operators have to submit \u201cclean energy plans\u201d outlining how they will meet the targets in 2023.<\/p>\n

The air division is also working on developing, by 2023 methods, to accurately assess the annual emission inventories oil and gas companies are required to file so that the intensity targets can be verified, Wille said.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed rule, a company failing to hit its targets would be required to make up those reductions the following year.<\/p>\n

Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/div>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nation\u2019s first \u2018intensity target\u2019 regulation moves on to full hearing in December<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44651"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}