By Meagan L. Weisner
Colorado is increasing air quality monitoring requirements, providing scientific researchers with more consistent data and empowering the communities near oil and gas production seeking information on the hazardous air pollutants that are being emitted.
Last month, Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission unanimously voted to update and improve air monitoring requirements for the oil and gas sector under Regulation Number 7. This decision will improve data collection and insight into which oil and gas production activities are most frequently releasing air toxics. It’s a victory for Colorado communities and concerned residents living near newly permitted oil and gas operations who will gain transparency about air toxics that are emitted from nearby operations.
The Commission originally adopted continuous emissions monitoring requirements during the early part of development and production back in 2021. This included monitoring air pollutants through various stages: prior to the commencement of construction of a new oil and gas site, throughout pre-production activities (e.g. drilling, hydraulic fracturing), and finally six months into the production phase. Operators were given flexibility in choosing their air monitoring plans, preferred technologies, and reporting.
There was a lot we did not know when the air commission first adopted those pioneering monitoring rules. Thankfully, in the last few years local governments have put in the work and helped us understand where improvements and modernization were needed. In 2024 the Ajax Analytics Data Harmonization Report found serious inconsistencies in data collection methods, sample interval times, and data submission processes. The report highlighted the need for standardized formatting of industry-collected air monitoring data in order to create a robust and reliable database that can inform emissions reductions strategies for the upstream oil and gas sector.
The Air Pollution Control Division recognized this urgent need for standardized data and stepped up to meet the challenge. In recent months leading up to the Regulation 7 hearing, division staff met with numerous stakeholders, including EDF, to determine the best methods to strengthen air monitoring. The Air Division focused on two key improvements: shorter air sampling collection periods and specifically differentiating and analyzing health-harming volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Reducing the timeframe an air sample is collected (e.g. 1 hour instead of 24 hours) is important to improve our understanding of how particular plumes that contain hazardous air pollutants are connected to specific oil and gas activities. Numerous studies have found that oil and gas plumes come from short-term, sporadic releases, especially during pre-production activities. When air monitoring is conducted with longer sample collection periods, the data does little to help us understand the relationship between specific oil and gas activities and VOC concentrations in order to further reduce air pollution.
By specifically differentiating and analyzing ozone-forming VOCs, we can better determine levels of specific pollutants that pose more significant risks to human health. Previous monitoring strategies that looked at the total, combined VOCs in the air did not produce meaningful data to understand which health-harming VOCs were being emitted.
In the years since the state monitoring program was adopted, local governments have been collecting their own air monitoring data near oil and gas sites. That data has helped inform why improvements and updates were needed to make sure that the state program could achieve its objectives as it was originally designed. The revisions also require better documentation of pad activities, which will provide better comparison data. Colorado has delivered what scientists, community members, and local governments have been requesting.
Good science helps us understand the world around us and the relationship between our current actions and our future results. Good science also requires good data, collected in a consistent manner and organized legibly. Colorado’s air commission clearly recognized this and is empowering scientists to do what we do best. With these world-leading guidelines for data collection, Colorado is advancing our global understanding of emissions and helping us figure out what we can do now to make tomorrow brighter.
