The evidence is clear: It’s going to take laws and rules to make Front Range air safe to breathe again.
Colorado Air Pollution Control Division
Posted inClimate, Energy, News
Oil and gas and cryptocurrency miners are Colorado’s new odd couple. And they’re making quite a bit of coin.
JACKSON COUNTY — Tan pump jacks, 140-year-old oil field technology, bob up and down amid the purple sage in this rural corner of Colorado, lifting oil from deep below and also fueling a very 21st century frenzy: cryptocurrency mining. The pump jack wells are tied to natural gas generators powering trailers filled with bitcoin mining […]
Posted inEnvironment
Charts that explain why it’s so hard to cut Colorado ozone
Ozone is the toxic air pollutant that has a lot of smart people on the Front Range really befuddled right now. Colorado is making big cuts to greenhouse gases, mainly by closing coal-fired power plants even faster than expected. New laws, and old cars switched out for new ones, have made steep cuts to the […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, News, Politics and Government
First comprehensive oil and gas drilling plan under Colorado’s new regulations gets go-ahead
Colorado’s first comprehensive oil and gas development plan — a new mechanism aimed at better assessing and managing the cumulative impacts of drilling — was approved by state regulators Wednesday, paving the way for more than 200 new wells in Weld County. Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., got a greenlight from Colorado Oil […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Environmental coalition sues Colorado over late air pollution permit for West Elk Mine
Colorado has missed by almost a year an air pollution permit deadline for the West Elk Mine near Paonia, a major Western Slope source of volatile organic compounds, n-hexane, methane and other pollutants, according to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups. Arch Coal-owned West Elk applied for an air pollution permit in […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
EPA fines Weld County gas processor $3.25 million for leaks
A Colorado natural gas processor will pay a $3.25 million fine in a settlement with federal and state air pollution officials, after allegations the company failed to detect and repair leaks that contributed to worsening ozone problems on the northern Front Range. DCP Operating Company LP and five related subsidiaries will pay the fines and […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado regulators approve 3 utilities’ clean energy plans despite environmentalists’ objections
Colorado regulators have signed off on clean energy plans from three utilities despite objections from environmental groups claiming the plans include vague promises of green electricity and didn’t account for nearly 200,000 tons of dirty coal emissions. State clean energy officials say they’re satisfied the plans from Colorado Springs Utilities, Holy Cross Energy and Platte […]
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: An alarm is raised, little is done, and employees flee
Fed up with the state’s failure to regulate air permits and after years of quietly watching the quality of Colorado’s air decline, about a year ago three state employees bravely came forward. The whistleblowers called out the state Air Pollution Control Division for rubber-stamping air permits and failing to meet the standards required in the […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Colorado oil and gas companies said a 2019 state law would destroy them. That didn’t happen. But here’s what did.
The demise of the oil and gas industry in Colorado — predicted after the passage of legislation and regulations focused on protecting public health, safety and the environment — does not appear to be imminent. Plans for nearly 1,900 new oil and gas wells are before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2022 […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado has 200,000 tons of orphan greenhouse gases that no one claims, environmental groups say
Nearly 200,000 tons of orphaned greenhouse gas emissions seemed to go off the books of a coal plant when a utility sold its partial share of the power. Another utility made a vague promise to replace 80% of its transmission through clean resources, without revealing how that magic total will be reached. Maybe these Colorado […]