Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action Responds to COGA

In an October 26, 2006 letter to the editor to the Grand Junction Free Press, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association asserts that a 1,200 horsepower natural gas fired compressor engine cannot possibly release as much pollution as 8,000 cars. This assertion, however, is as wrong as the toxic air pollution that the oil and gas industry is releasing into the air we breathe.

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action has responded. Calling on information directly from state-issued permits, which in turn is based on information from the industry, a 1,200 horsepower compressor engine can release as much pollution as 8,042 cars. That's not the end of it. Even smaller engines release massive amounts of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and smog forming compounds. The numbers speak for themselves and underscore what many of us already know: that the oil and gas industry is wreaking havoc on air quality and the health of our local communities.