Drilling pauses, pollution fines proposed in suite of Colorado air quality bills

Lawmakers take aim at oil and gas in effort to curb ozone

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado lawmakers rolled out new bills on Thursday with the goal of reducing pollution in the state, but business chambers and oil and gas companies are already pushing back, fearing businesses would be harmed if the measures become law.

Lawmakers and community members say something needs to be done now to improve Colorado’s air for the next generation. Oil and gas companies are already making a stink about the new solutions they put forward.

“After years of inaction and dismissals to our calls for action, our community is ready for a win,” said Guadalupe Solis of Cultivando, an organization focused on health equity.

Three new bills unveiled at the Capitol during a Thursday news conference are geared toward reducing emissions and improving the environment.

“These bills work together, all of them, to shore up loopholes, enforce existing regulations and address minor, sometimes overlooked sources contributing to our ozone problem,” said state Sen. Lisa Cutter, a sponsor of several of the new measures.

Colorado pollution bills focus on oil and gas, construction, fines

Senate Bill 24-165 would require a pause on oil and gas production in Colorado during ozone season in the summer months. It also enforces the governor’s call for state agencies to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 50% by the year 2030.

Senate Bill 24-166 would increase the maximum fines local governments could impose for repeat violators of the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division’s regulations.

House Bill 24-1330 would require individual sources of pollution to be treated as one source of pollution on the construction permit for companies that may have several projects going on at once.

“We are going to require that before you dig, you need to know and demonstrate that the impact you will have to air will not be in exceedance in what is allowed federally,” House Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon said.

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and oil and gas leaders — like the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and American Petroleum Institute Colorado — are already pushing back. They acknowledge the need for clean air but say the new bills attack their companies.

“We have been working at this for years. We have been a part of dozens of rulemakings, examining every part of our industry to bring down our emissions, to make us cleaner, better and safer,” said Dan Haley, president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. “We will continue to do that and come to the table. But right now, when you have somebody who is trying to ban this industry, we are going to fight that.”

Oil and gas leaders said they expect to see other bills impacting their industry this session. They say they plan to fight all of them.