API-Colorado
A new rule to slash oil and gas emissions appeals to the industry, but Colorado activists worry it won’t work
The proposed "intensity target" rule aims to slash carbon emissions from the oil and gas industry by 60%. But the targets are based on data that doesn’t exist.
Nearly half of Colorado’s 52,000 wells produce little or no oil. Who’ll pay to plug them?
Rules are being drafted to cover the cost of cleaning up obsolete wells. But for rural farmers and suburban homeowners, idle pipes and pump jacks are a daily reminder of how complex and expensive the process is.
Colorado doesn’t want to foot the bill for abandoned oil and gas wells. Here’s how it will avoid picking up the tab.
Senate Bill 181 told the state to strengthen “financial assurance” regs. COGCC now wants operators to guarantee the clean up of each well and the cost could run to the billions.
Effort to force Colorado to cut greenhouse emissions faster exposes exasperation with Polis administration
“I am highly frustrated where we are now,” Sen. Kerry Donovan, a Vail Democrat, said.
This Erie neighborhood is ground zero for Colorado’s collision of fracking and housing
Families who bought in Colliers Hill thought they were moving to an outdoor paradise. But the fine print in Colorado’s oil and gas regulations has rattled their lives.
Colorado gave local governments more power to regulate oil and gas. And some are using it.
The legislature’s 2019 overhaul of drilling rules through Senate Bill 181 empowered some cities and counties to prioritize safety. But other energy-friendly areas have held back on flexing their new muscles.
Colorado regulators target tiny oil field device that’s a big contributor to greenhouse gas, ozone pollution
Even major oil companies admit that tens of thousands of pneumatic controllers should be upgraded to prevent natural gas from seeping out
“Flaring” at oil and gas wells to be curtailed as Colorado regulators adopt some of nation’s strictest rules
The practice of burning off natural gas is relatively rare in Colorado, but tough rules on flaring and venting may help the state meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Oil and gas companies must monitor fracking emissions as Colorado adopts first-in-the-nation rules to reduce air pollution
Some environmental groups say the new regulations, which also give local governments access to collected data, aren’t fully baked even after long negotiations
Colorado oil and gas emissions rules begin to tighten, but gaps open over what is monitored, by whom and where
Western Slope commissioners say rules designed to pull the Front Range into federal ozone compliance are an “economic risk” for northwest Colorado
