Views from Western Colorado

It's been a few days since we've posted on our Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action blog, but rest assured there's been plenty of action lately on our Denver Ozone blog.

On top of that, we've been on the road. One place we visited was wonderful western Colorado, checking out how booming oil and gas development is affecting our skies and our communities. Here's some pictures from our tour of the gas fields south of Rangely, Colorado:

This is a tank of methanol, which is poisonous and also a toxic air pollutant. Methanol is used as an additive at many gas wells in western Colorado to prevent freezing.

This is a condensate tank. Condensate is gaseous in the ground, but when these gases are brought to the surface they condense into liquids. These tanks are a major source of smog forming pollution in Colorado.

Condensate tanks fill up and are unloaded by trucks periodically. Sometimes condensate tanks overflow, like this one.

Here's another condensate tank. Condensate is flammable.

Condensate is also hazardous. This placard was attached to the condensate tank shown above.


This is Encana's Dragon Tail gas plant. They process natural gas and compress it for pipeline transport. The Dragon Tail gas plant has also been cited by the state for violating clean air laws.

The Dragon Tail gas plant has massive natural gas dehydrators and other pieces of equipment that spew toxic air pollution. The plant releases 1.7 tons of benzene annually.

Gas wells regularly vent dangerous gases. With over 34,000 producing oil and gas wells in Colorado, that venting adds up to a lot of air pollution.