Some conservation groups and oil and gas industry representatives have reached agreement on a joint proposal for what they say would be a first-in-the-nation rule under which companies would have to retrofit pneumatic control devices at oil and gas sites to cut methane emissions.
The groups are proposing the requirement to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, which is scheduled to consider new rules targeting the devices at a meeting Feb 18-19.The proposal was announced in a news release this week from the Sierra Club, Earthworks and Center for Biological Diversity, which are legally represented by Earthjustice in the rulemaking process.
According to the release, pneumatic control devices are used for purposes including controlling temperatures and managing pressure and liquid levels at oil and gas facilities. The groups say that most of the devices run on natural gas from wells, as a result releasing a small amount of methane gas each time they open and close, but that methane adds up, with an estimated 56,000 of the controllers in place in the Front Range’s DJ Basin oil field alone.
Also, the groups say, many of the controllers release more gas than they should because they don’t operate properly, and many continually release gas. More modern controllers use compressed air or electronic mechanisms to avoid unnecessary emissions of methane, which is a greenhouse gas and also may be emitted along with pollutants that contribute to the formation of unhealthy ground-level ozone. Conservation groups say the proposed measure would help meet the targets of a 2019 law passed by the state legislature mandating steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.
The conservation groups have been calling for the pneumatic controller retrofitting requirements since 2017. According to the release, the consensus proposal calls for use of non-emitting controllers at new installations with very limited exceptions, and also would require companies to begin replacing polluting controllers at existing production facilities and compressor stations. Companies would have flexibility in where to undertake retrofitting as they phase in that work under the new requirement.
They also would have to replace polluting controllers when doing new hydraulic fracturing of wells at existing sites.
“The requirement to replace existing pneumatic devices is especially important because studies show that a significant portion of them are not working properly and are currently emitting copious quantities of ozone-causing chemicals and greenhouse gases,” Ramesh Bhatt, chair of the Conservation Committee of the Colorado Sierra Club, said in the release.
Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said in a statement provided to The Daily Sentinel, “This agreement among industry and conservation groups will allow for the thoughtful reduction of emissions and the improvement of Colorado’s air quality, adding to the significant emission cuts that have taken place over the past few years. Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry is proud of this joint proposal, with another first-in-the-nation effort, in this case regarding the retrofit of pneumatic controllers.
“The Colorado way is about putting differences aside and coming together to find solutions. We hope Air Quality Control Commissioners move quickly to adopt this joint proposal when they meet in February.”
Rodger Steen, chair of the oil and gas committee of the Western Colorado Alliance citizens group based in Grand Junction, said the alliance backs the joint proposal and it’s been “a long time coming.”
“It’s to install equipment that actually has been readily available for quite a while,” he said. “I think perhaps the only remaining question was whether or not it was cost-effective.”
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January 30, 2021 at 02:15PM
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Deal reached on proposal to cut oil, gas emissions - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
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