By: Laurie Anderson, Colorado Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: February 12, 2024
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0434
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Hi! My name is Laurie Anderson and I am a Field Organizer with Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Broomfield, Colorado. Thank you for this opportunity to share with you today.
I am a Mom of 5 with my youngest now a teenager. We live about a half mile from a large-scale oil and gas development site with 18 horizontal wells and near several other well pads.
Like so many other Moms, I support the Methane Emissions Reduction Program and the need to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the country. By ensuring oil and gas operators comply with federal methane standards and take action now to reduce emissions, this program is an important step towards addressing the climate crisis and protecting the health and safety of children and families across the country.
Ideally, oil & gas operators would have already seized the opportunity to reign in their methane emissions realizing that the health of our planet is at stake, and that less waste means more energy in the pipeline. In fact, many leading companies have already pledged to limit emissions to levels below those subject to the fee and just need to implement their plans. However, sometimes it takes a financial impact to swiftly bring about much-needed change, and the good news is there are cost-effective and successful technologies that can be rapidly implemented to reduce methane emissions and subsequently avoid the fee.
Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas pollutant that is fueling the climate crisis. Climate change is already impacting our families and communities in Colorado through extreme weather events, hotter summers, aridification, and decreased snowpack. A couple of years ago, the Marshall fire ripped through neighboring communities burning over 1000 homes in the dead of winter. With each new “Red Flag” day, where high winds and fire danger coincide, our communities relive the very real danger of another destructive scenario.
Air pollution created by oil and gas operations contributes to ozone smog that can damage lungs and trigger asthma attacks. Broomfield is in the “severe” ozone nonattainment area that spans from Denver along the northern Front Range where the top contributor of ozone precursors is oil & gas operations. Ongoing heat waves only exacerbate the ground-level ozone pollution problem. These ozone action days and climate impacts will likely intensify if reducing climate-changing pollution is not rapidly and effectively addressed.
Colorado, along with New Mexico, has been leading the way on regulations that reduce methane pollution, and operators have been successfully implementing technologies that reduce methane pollution such as advanced monitoring techniques and zero-emitting process controllers. Fortunately, the waste emissions charge working cohesively with both federal methane rules and updates to the oil and gas Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program will ensure that the reported emissions that form the basis of the fee accurately reflect emissions by incorporating real-world data. Together, these rules will work to safeguard our climate, protect public health, and create good-paying jobs
My family is fortunate to live in Colorado where we continue to proactively take steps to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations. However, all children across the nation need these same protections and these federal rules really will make a difference.
Once again, I support the proposed EPA Methane Emissions Reduction Program’s waste emissions charge which will hold the nation’s largest oil and gas polluters accountable for excessive climate pollution, and thereby help protect our children’s health and their future. Thank you for your time.