The Horrors of Oil and Gas Development

The Denver Post reports yesterday on how oil and gas developments are spewing out harmful air pollution, making nearby residents sick.

The oil and gas industry of course "downplays" the connection. In other words, industry doesn't believe there's a link between peoples' illnesses and the benzene and other toxic gases that are released by their developments. The burden of proof, industry says, lies with the people being gassed.

That's like asking an attempted murder victim to prove a gunshot wound could have been fatal.

Of course, this would never happen. Similarly, nobody should ever have to prove that oil and gas developments are causing illnesses. It should be the industry's responsibility to prove that their toxic gases are not destroying peoples' lives by making people ill. It's a simple matter of erring on the side of health, whereas the oil and gas industry would rather err on the side of sickness and death.

But the real horror in all of this is that air pollution coming from oil and gas developments is largely illegal.

Under the Clean Air Act, oil and gas wells and related source of air pollution are to be considered a "single source." This means that wells and other sources of air pollution should be regulated as if they were a single, functional factory. It's just like a power plant with smokestacks. We don't just look at pollution from one smokestack, we look at all of them. And with oil and gas, we should be looking at every development together. If we did so, the oil and gas industry would rank as one of the largest sources of air pollution in Colorado and would be subject to the most stringent Clean Air Act requirements.

With more and more falling ill because of oil and gas development, the oil and gas industry is going to have to face prospect of following the Clean Air Act. Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action will be sure of it.