By: Laurie Anderson, Colorado Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: October 12, 2023
About: Cumulative Impacts of Oil and Gas Development
To: Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC)
Good morning, Commissioners! My name is Laurie Anderson, and I am a Colorado Field Organizer with Moms Clean Air Force—a community of over 1.5 million moms and dads united against air pollution—including the urgent crisis of our changing climate—to protect our children’s health. I live in Broomfield near large-scale oil and gas development. Thank you for this opportunity to provide public comments on the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development.
The ECMC’s rules for permitting oil and gas locations, as well as rules pertaining to existing oil and gas development, should be amended to the extent necessary to protect public health, safety, welfare, environment, and wildlife resources. The statutory mandate to “evaluate and address cumulative impacts” is not new and was created under SB19-181 back in 2019.
It is important to note that all cumulative impacts are addressable through increased setback distance, operational and equipment requirements, operating restrictions, and denial of permits, as necessary, to ensure protection of public health, safety, welfare, and the environmental resources.
The Commission has siting authority, which is a broad power, and it is important to recognize that with each oil and gas development permit approval, the Commission is also approving the air pollutants and other adverse impacts that are inevitably part of these industrial operations.
Of utmost importance is protecting the air our children breathe and the climate they will inherit. By working in conjunction with the CDPHE, the AQCC, and other entities, ECMC can and should begin to ask the question regarding each new permit, “Is this permit protective of public health, safety, our air, our water, our environment and the climate?” If not, the permit must be denied, and the onus placed back on the operator.
Regarding the cumulative impacts from existing operations, much of the harm has already been done, but through the updated rules and regulations, progress has been made to ensure wells are inspected, upgraded, repaired, and properly plugged and abandoned. With time, the burden from these legacy wells will be reduced. We cannot undo the past, but we can absolutely make protective choices going forward.
To address the cumulative impacts, the compilation of data must include an analysis of pollution and other impacts from all existing wells, including the 48,000+ currently active wells, as well as ensuring the well casing integrity of the current 49,000+ inactive wells in Colorado. The data collection in CIDER can continue with a focus on robust and comprehensive annual records, and when compiled in conjunction with the legacy data collection, can “evolve to take into consideration the cumulative impacts.”
Additionally, other significant pollution sources, especially those related to oil and gas activities beyond the well pad, must be captured in the analysis of cumulative impacts when oil and gas operations are proposed in proximity.
In review of the cumulative impacts, existing sources of pollution and other impacts must also be considered with a lens on equity and justice for all permit applications. To date, no threshold has been set to limit the cumulative impact of pollution to levels that are protective of public health. Additionally, the Denver Metro/North Front Range Ozone Nonattainment Area has been downgraded to "severe" ozone nonattainment while oil and gas development permits continue to be approved.
The ECMC has enough information to adopt rules to address the most serious cumulative impacts, particularly around emissions of ozone precursors and their contribution to summertime ozone exceedances. Based on the data that has been collected through rules promulgated in 2020 intended to “evaluate” cumulative impacts, the 2023 Report on the Evaluation of Cumulative Impacts projects oil and gas to be the largest contributor of ozone precursor emissions in the nonattainment area.1
Ozone is harmful to children's health because of its respiratory irritant properties, which can cause symptoms like coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, particularly impacting those with asthma or respiratory conditions.
Several years have now passed, with thousands more wells approved while data has been collected. The impacts on our children’s health are simply too great to delay any longer. The Commission has the power to slow new development that harms people and the environment and can pause permits in our ozone nonattainment area until this rule is complete and fully implemented.
The compilation of the cumulative impacts collected and summarized by the Commission earlier this year are just as relevant today as they were then.
We look forward to expedient rulemaking to meet the April 28, 2024, deadline included in HB23-1294 to promulgate rules that evaluate and address the cumulative impacts of oil and gas operations, and request that these rules be effective by that same date. It has been nearly five years since the passage of SB19-181 and the first requirement to address cumulative impacts, so there must be no further delay. Thank you for prioritizing the health and safety of children and their families.
1. See Report on the Evaluation of Cumulative Impacts (February 2023) at pg. 62.