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 […]
Colorado Air Pollution Control Division
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 […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Colorado air pollution regulators are so behind that they didn’t get around to a hearing on one company’s permit for 13 years
In March 2009, a Western Slope oil company filed an application for a state air emissions permit for its wastewater treatment facility. On Thursday, state regulators got around to holding a hearing on that permit — about almost 13 years behind schedule. “We are asking for the same thing we asked for 13 years ago, […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado air pollution panel fails to fix whistleblower complaints, environmentalists say
Environmental groups say a state science and policy panel failed to fix problems tagged by whistleblowers that the state broke EPA rules in how it sets pollution caps for companies, and that now the state will continue to rubber stamp unlawful permits and harmful emissions. The advisory panel had two industry votes to one environmental […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
Colorado to strengthen plan to protect views at Rocky Mountain National Park, sidestepping Sierra Club lawsuit
Colorado will meet revised federal deadlines to strengthen regional haze plans that protect views in Rocky Mountain National Park and other western treasures, state officials and environmental groups say, sidestepping a new Sierra Club lawsuit demanding sanctions on Colorado and dozens more states. The Sierra Club lawsuit says the Environmental Protection Agency failed to enforce […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado needs to cut greenhouse gas pollution from industry. They’ve put it off until 2023.
Colorado officials won’t pass rules cutting greenhouse gas emissions from large manufacturers until 2023, once again disappointing environmental advocates who say mandatory targets for 2025 and 2030 are slipping out of sight. Last spring, the Air Pollution Control Division had rulemaking for the next round of industrial emissions cuts planned for 2022. Environmental groups say […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado approves Suncor permit renewal, but air pollution activists say they will keep trying to block it
Colorado air quality officials have approved a permit renewal for portions of Suncor’s refinery in Commerce City, prompting vows from community officials and environmental groups to keep fighting the permit at the EPA and in court. The EPA now has 45 days from Feb. 8 to review the updated permit conditions and either approve them […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But first they exempted the biggest polluters.
When Colorado air pollution regulators started writing rules to cut 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions by heavy industry, the first thing they had to do was exempt the four largest polluters. The original law says that cement plants and steel plants, which in Colorado are currently emitting up to a million tons a year […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado tightens air pollution rules after staff shake-up, whistleblower complaint
Colorado air quality regulators are moving to tighten oversight of small sources of air pollution, which critics contend have gotten a free pass under the previous policies of the state Air Pollution Control Division. Those policies were the target of a federal whistleblower complaint by division employees and an investigation by the state’s Attorney General’s […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Ozone plagues Colorado’s Front Range, state report says, but bids to change it are elusive
The worst ozone year in recent history on the Northern Front Range boosted pollutant violations in a rolling three-year average closely watched by the EPA, state officials said Thursday, though they did not offer bold new programs to combat the hazardous substance. Twelve monitoring sites on the Front Range now have a three-year average over […]