Commentary – Clearing the Air About Methane Emissions and Climate Change
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Denver last month to discuss the Biden administration’s efforts to address climate change. The Vice President particularly highlighted the unprecedented federal investments this administration has championed through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for clean energy initiatives, climate resilience and environmental justice. As an elected official, I am charged with protecting the health, safety and welfare of our constituents. It is reassuring that our leaders in Washington, D.C., have our backs and are taking bold action to address the climate emergency.
The federal climate funding investments are providing local governments like ours with the opportunity to build sustainable and resilient communities. We also need swift action from Washington in implementing crucial rules limiting climate-damaging emissions from oil and gas operations.
The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing a rule to reduce methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas operations. Our region has significant pollution from oil and gas production, and we simply can’t waste any time getting these new rules implemented and enforced.
The EPA’s proposed draft includes leak detection and repair requirements for all wells, zero-emitting requirements for off-grid well equipment, and an important monitoring program to respond to super-emitter events. The final version should go even further by requiring the capture of gas associated with oil drilling, applying emission standards to a broader range of storage tanks, and better equipping communities to participate in the super-emitter response program.
A final public comment period on the draft proposal ended in mid-February. Now it is time for quick action from the Biden administration to get this rule over the finish line and to protect our communities and climate future.
Vice President Harris made stops in several other states earlier this year on climate-related business, including Arizona, California, Michigan, Georgia and Minnesota. It’s important that administrative officials make these in-person visits to see with their own eyes exactly what’s at stake. Evidence of climate change and air pollution is rampant throughout the West and nationwide, and there are certainly plenty of examples in Colorado.
A “brown cloud” of ozone pollution has hovered over metro Denver and the northern Front Range for years, which is a health hazard to our children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups, as well as an eyesore obstructing the view of our beautiful mountains. In southwestern Colorado, there is the Four Corners methane “hotspot” – a Delaware-sized concentration of methane first identified by NASA in 2014, caused by emissions from the vast oil and gas complex in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.
Climate change is also the culprit behind extreme temperatures and drought, sinking major reservoirs and water sources to record lows, and creating quite the conundrum over water rights and how we’ll manage water usage in the years to come. Our communities are also dealing with one devastating wildfire after another – year-round – that renders the term “fire season” obsolete.
Across the state and in oil- and gas-producing communities everywhere, the message is clear: We must get a handle on one of our biggest climate-change contributors. That requires sweeping federal standards that will apply to oil and gas operators nationwide and drastically cut methane pollution.
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our communities today. If the Biden administration is serious about being a global leader in climate action, we need to strengthen the EPA’s proposal and move quickly to finalize this methane rule. With Earth Day reminding us to “Invest in our Planet” this year, there is no better time to act. Our communities deserve the strongest rule possible.
Emma Pinter -Adams County Commissioner
