|
Emission
sources discovered
EPA
finds pollution that forms smog at oil, gas facilities
By
Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
June 20, 2006
EPA
investigators armed with a pollution-detecting infrared camera recently
discovered sources of smog-forming emissions billowing from oil and gas
facilities northeast of Denver.
On
a tour of the drilling area in Weld and Adams counties, a group of top EPA
officials that included the agency's lead enforcement official in
Washington, D.C., and a team of high-tech EPA investigators based in
Lakewood used the infrared camera to see emissions that are normally
invisible to the naked eye.
Aiming
the camera at pipelines, valves and hatches atop storage tanks, the EPA
regulators found numerous sources of "fugitive emissions" -
those leaking from various areas of the facility - during a two-hour
drive-by of the region last week.
In
one case, an open hatch atop a storage tank was gushing such a tremendous
volume of emissions into the air that one participant jokingly compared it
to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near the ancient city of Pompeii.
The
new information raises questions about whether such emissions mean the oil
and gas industry is contributing more of the kind of pollution that leads
to elevated ozone counts than previously believed. Ozone is a major
component of smog.
"The
problem we face is, individually these are minor sources (of pollution) .
. . but when you have tens of thousands (oil and gas operations) out
there, it makes a difference, and that's what we need to get a handle
on," said Richard Long, head of air programs for the Environmental
Protection Agency's regional office in Denver.
Long
emphasized that the ozone- forming pollution spewing from leaks and other
areas at the sites doesn't mean the emissions are illegal. Nor was the
tour a formal inspection, or a step toward some kind of formal enforcement
action against the industry, Long said.
Instead,
the EPA is trying to learn more about the oil and gas industry's role in
creating pollution that leads to higher ozone levels in the Denver region
and elsewhere across the West.
Ken
Wonstolen, senior vice president of the Colorado Oil & Gas
Association, played down the emissions caught by the infrared camera. He
suggested much of the emissions could be water vapor or methane, a
chemical that isn't as prone to ozone formation as other compounds.
Wonstolen
emphasized that in the overall picture, oil and gas production plays a
"tiny" role in the region's ozone problem, and doubted that the
fugitive emissions caught on camera were significant beyond showing
companies a new tool they could employ.
The
video footage comes at a time when state health officials are pressing the
industry to install additional emission controls on their
operations.
Recent
figures produced by the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment found that the fast-growing industry northeast of Denver is
expected to produce emissions of smog- forming compounds at a rate of 236
tons a day by the summer of 2007 - 90 tons a day beyond predictions of a
few years ago.
Regulators
say the emissions can wash back up the South Platte River valley toward
Denver and the foothills, driving up ozone levels on hot, cloudless days
when smog-forming conditions are ideal. Elevated ozone can add to the
misery of those with respiratory problems such as asthma or emphysema,
driving up emergency room visits and health care costs.
Regional
air pollution officials are watching ozone levels closely, as the metro
area needs to stay within federal health limits for the summers of 2005
through 2007 to ensure that the Denver region stays off the EPA's list of
dirty-air cities.
Getting
branded as a polluted region by the EPA can make it more difficult to
attract industry and expand road systems.
An
environmentalist who has seen the footage suggested the fugitive emissions
caught on tape were a new and important source of smog-forming emissions
that will need to be controlled.
"Anybody's
nose can tell you that (they are significant)," said Jeremy Nichols,
of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, a group calling for more stringent
actions to cut ozone-forming emissions. "Just riding past a gas
station, you can smell (the compounds). You can smell it, all the leaks
are there, all the fugitive emissions are there."
Watching
the video, he said, "it was like these tanks are on fire - there's so
much (ozone-forming) compounds coming off there."
Copyright
2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
|
