- An Alliance For Community Action
- (970) 256-7650
- info@WesternColoradoAlliance.org
We all deserve clean air
The state is updating clean air rules and we must ensure they protect all of Colorado
Join us at an upcoming hearing and stand up for clean air in western Colorado
Colorado’s Air Quality Control Division is currently considering whether to strengthen air pollution standards for oil and gas facilities– and they are taking official input from western Coloradans like us at a public hearing on April 17th in Rifle. These standards could have tremendous impacts on the air we breathe and we must ensure they apply to all Coloradans. Join us to make sure state regulators get the message!
Last year, federal regulators determined that the air in Denver continues to be unhealthy for people with sensitivities to breathe and adopted new rules to address the problem. Here in Western Colorado, we have our own problems with air pollution, especially during our winter inversions. We are also developing ozone levels during the summer months that sometimes exceed national standards, although overall we still meet national ambient air quality standards. Let’s make sure the problem doesn’t get worse.
This important public meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 3:30-5:00pm, at the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office – Rifle Annex, 106 County Road 333-A, Rifle, CO 81650. Participants who wish to speak should pre-register here.
Urge Colorado to protect public health by supporting strong statewide standards for the oil and gas industry that ensure clean, breathable air for ALL Colorado communities.
What’s at stake?
- Fairness: Air quality rules should apply statewide to provide all residents the protections they deserve. All Coloradans deserve to benefit from strong protections and no community should be left behind. Any new standards discussed by the Task Force need to protect the health of Western Slope residents too.
- Protecting communities: Across Colorado, improvements in drilling technology have brought extraction closer and closer to our homes, schools and playgrounds. In Western Colorado, specifically in communities like Battlement Mesa, we are seeing oil and gas
wells placed right next to homes.- A recent study from the Colorado School of Public health shows people living within 500 feet of an oil and gas facility have a higher risk of cancer. A current proposal in Battlement Mesa is 500 feet away from seven homes and only 1,000 feet from entire neighborhoods.
- If industry is going to be allowed so close to homes, the best available technologies to control air pollution and increased inspections must be used to protect people’s health and homes.
- We should all breathe easy: Wind and airflow patterns know no boundaries, but we all deserve to breathe clean air. By requiring stricter monitoring and repairs, lower emission levels can be achieved statewide and people can breathe easier.
- Oil and gas facilities emit dangerous toxic chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde. We should not be unnecessarily breathing in known carcinogens.
- Oil and gas operations also cause ozone pollution, which can trigger asthma
attacks and worsen emphysema, especially in the elderly and children.
- Are we really going to wait until we have a problem? The Front Range achieved non-attainment status under previous rules, and certain areas on the West Slope have come close. We can act now to make sure we stop these problems before they get worse.
- There are cost-effective solutions: Colorado has been a leader in creating and adopting protections to address ozone and methane pollution, and companies have adapted to use new equipment to find and fix leaks on a regular schedule on all their wells.
- Innovative technologies that measure pressure and temperature at the well-site can use the power of the sun to monitor equipment It’s time to stop relying on antiquated technologies that leak natural gas and require more frequent human management.
- Frequent leak detection can be done cost-effectively with proven technology, and also creates new jobs. New protections can be win-win for communities and industry.
For more information on the AQCD process and Western Slope Air Quality issues, contact Emily Hornback at Western Colorado Congress: 970-256-7650, emily@westerncoloradoalliance.org
Emily stepped up as our staff director in 2017, but originally joined our team as a community organizer in 2013. Born and raised on the Western Slope, Emily graduated from Colorado State University and then had the privilege of learning from and working alongside organizers in Central and South America as well as Appalachian coal country. They returned to their home state to protect the land they love and work with fellow Coloradans for a healthy, just and self-reliant future for our rural communities. Emily enjoys organizing, exploring the Colorado Plateau, country music and punk concerts with equal passion.