If EnCana Can Eliminate Air Pollution...

An article today by David Frey with the Aspen Daily Times reports that EnCana Oil and Gas, one of the major companies drilling for natural gas in western Colorado, has eliminated air pollution emissions from its North Parachute Ranch facility in Garfield County, Colorado.

This article underscores how feasible it is to control toxic air pollution from natural gas drilling and production. If EnCana can take steps to eliminate air pollution entirely, there's no reason why every other oil and gas company in western Colorado can't do the same.

The state of Colorado is proposing to require companies to reduce emissions of ozone forming compounds and other toxic air pollutants by upwards of 95% from oil and gas developments. EnCana's efforts to reduce air pollution at North Parachute Ranch show that this proposal is not only feasible, but entirely reasonable.


Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action visited western Colorado over the weekend and happened upon a condensate tank spewing out toxic air pollution at a gas well just north of I-70 about 10 miles west of Rifle, Colorado. The picture above shows the tank on the far right spewing condensate, which appears as a white cloud. The smell was like being next to a refinery and wafted several miles downwind of the tank. This is one of hundreds, if not thousands of condensate tanks dotting western Colorado now. The need to reduce, if not eliminate, air pollution from oil and gas development is immediate and obvious.

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action is building support for statewide reductions in air pollution from tanks like these, working in coalition with Western Colorado Congress, Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, Concerned Citizens Alliance, Western Slope Environmental Resource Council, Community Alliance of the Yampa Valley, and other citizens' groups in western Colorado. Right now, you can support reductions in air pollution. Check out our last post, weigh in, and make a difference!