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 […]
methane
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Yes, we can help reduce greenhouse gases
It was a freakishly warm and very windy day. Driving back from Dillon on Highway 93, it was difficult to keep the car on the road. Debris such as plastic swimming pools and construction materials blew across the road, making it challenging to keep the car on the highway. As we neared Boulder, the road […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Report that oil field methane emissions are down by half is wrong, Front Range cities with own pollution monitors say
Air pollution from oil and gas operations is on the wane, the industry says. But communities along the Front Range — with their own air monitors — counter that they are finding repeated spikes of methane and other pollutants. “Ground-level methane monitoring shows no decline in levels,” Cindy Copeland, an air and climate policy advisor […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Environment, News, Technology
Here’s how Colorado oil and gas companies say they are getting to net-zero emissions
Soon after Bayswater Exploration & Production installed Project Canary devices next to a few sites it was drilling for oil and gas, an alarm would go off at different times and at different locations. The alarms indicated there was a methane leak. But where? An alarm would stop but start up again, seemingly randomly. The […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
West Elk mine cannot leak methane, must flare the greenhouse gas, judge rules
The West Elk coal mine must keep flaring dangerous methane and seek state air pollution permits instead of leaking the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, in a consent decree hailed by environmental groups across Colorado. Though burning the methane on-site near Somerset creates CO2, it causes far less damage to the atmosphere than allowing raw […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: To reduce ozone, cut emissions at the source
At October’s Air Quality Control Commission monthly meeting, staff from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment presented its report on the 2021 ozone season. If you lived anywhere along the Front Range during this past summer, you can probably guess what the report said. To no one’s surprise, it was the worst ozone […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Biden’s climate plan aims to reduce methane emissions
By Matthew Daly, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday launched a wide-ranging plan to reduce methane emissions, targeting a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming and packs a stronger short-term punch than even carbon dioxide. The plan was announced as President Joe Biden wraps up a two-day appearance […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Energy, Environment, News
Smells like a fossil fuel. Works like a fossil fuel. But these Colorado stations pump a gas with emissions less than zero.
The fuel that comes out of the gleaming pumps at X3CNG’s west Greeley station has the telltale smell of fossil fuel. It runs a big truck with the heavy-duty efficiency of a fossil fuel. But the impact of the transaction can be the opposite of burning fossil fuel. X3CNG and many of its competitors in […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado’s leadership on methane control is reducing greenhouse gases — and increasing jobs
Now more than ever, we need bold leadership at the local, state and federal levels as we face the immediate and severe consequences of a rapidly changing climate. The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report made it unequivocally clear that greenhouse gases are driving extreme weather, including the severe heat and drought we are […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: It’s time to recommit to controlling methane emissions to combat climate change
Coloradans have been at the forefront of curbing methane waste and pollution from oil and gas operations and their impact on public health and climate change. So it should come as no surprise the Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Diana DeGette are playing lead roles in advancing federal methane policy. Methane, a […]