By: Shaina Oliver, Colorado field organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: December 1, 2021
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Moms Clean Air Force Colorado Chapter acknowledges the stolen lands of over 574 tribal nations and that we sit directly on the lands of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Ute Nations and 45 other tribes that once occupied Colorado.
Hi, I’m Shaina Oliver, resident of Denver, Colorado, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Advocate, Field Organizer for EcoMadres/Moms Clean Air Force Colorado, representing our more than 37,000 members in the state. Most importantly, I am an Indigenous mother of four. We are the descendants of the genocide known as the “Indian Removal Act,” known to the Dineh as “The Long Walk of the Navajo.” These types of policy violations have run a long historic impact on Indigenous people, community, health, wealth, and environmental well-being.
Moms support the proposed EPA methane rules and urge the EPA to finalize the strongest and most comprehensive rules to protect children’s health from all sources of oil and gas methane pollution including small wells and routine flaring.
Historically, policy violations have ravaged Indigenous communities’ health, wealth, and environmental well-being. As a tribal affiliate of the Navajo Nation, I have seen the devastating land and health impacts contributed by coal, uranium, oil, and gas extraction. Because of these disparities, Indigenous people now have the highest rates in asthma, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, leukemia, adverse birth outcomes, and premature deaths than the general population. I myself was born prematurely, low-birth weight, diagnosed with asthma as an infant, and later in life diagnosed with a birth defect. My uncle who lives near an oil and gas site has suffered a heart attack and has undergone heart surgery. In addition, my grandfather suffered from asthma continuously before passing away from leukemia.
Because of systemic environmental violence and racism built into our treaties, laws, policies, and regulations, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income people have been segregated and redlined into communities near polluting industries. We are seeing this reality play out once again as oil and gas permits are being proposed near vulnerable communities already disproportionately impacted by pollution.
Scientists have known for decades that air pollution is harmful to health, and this is especially true for vulnerable populations such as older adults, people with underlying health conditions, communities of color, pregnant women, and children.
Air pollution from the oil and gas industry can cause respiratory diseases, asthma attacks, increased hospitalizations, reproductive problems, blood disorders, neurological problems, cancer, and contribute to climate change which further harms health.
One in three people in the US lives in a county with oil and gas production, and over 17 million live within a mile of active oil and gas wells, putting their health at risk. But the risk is not evenly distributed. Black, Indigenous, Latino, low-income, and rural communities are disproportionately exposed to dirty air, including harmful pollution from oil and gas operations, because of where they live, learn, work, and play.
Cutting methane pollution will have the benefit of reducing associated harmful volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as benzene. Benzene can worsen asthma, affect lung development in children and increases the risk of cancer, immune system damage, and neurological, reproductive, and developmental problems.
Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Alaska experienced this summer’s most extreme heat and poor air quality levels in human history. Indigenous Tribal members continue to be the front lines of climate change and continue to be the leaders when addressing climate change resilience. While we commemorate the EPA’s proposed methane rule to cut a significant amount of methane pollution, there is still more work to do.
We still need to regularly monitor all small wells with frequent leak detection and repair (LDAR) that would provide actual protections for families. Including the need to create standards that ensure wells are properly shutdown and plugged without shifting the burden on taxpayers.
And the need to eliminate the practice of routine flaring would cut large sources of pollution including methane, carbon dioxide, and air toxics, which Colorado and New Mexico has already done.
Equally important, communities need transparency and accessibility of emissions data. Having the EPA recognize third party methane emissions modeling estimates based on data rather than relying on oil and gas operator’s self-reported estimated emissions would give a more accurate picture of the methane pollution problem.
Moms’ and the next seven generations are counting on the EPA to finalize the strongest and most comprehensive rules to protect children’s health from all sources of oil and gas methane pollution.
Thank you.