WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Guardians Calls on BLM to Halt Drilling, Coal Pollution in White River Field Office of Colorado

Petition Filed Demanding Agency Address Ozone Violation, Increasingly Severe Impacts to Clean Air in the Region
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663

Denver—In light of revelations that western Colorado is now violating federal health standards limiting smog pollution, WildEarth Guardians today called on the Bureau of Land Management to halt drilling, fracking, mining, and other activities that could make the problem worse and jeopardize clean air for years to come.

“Our request is simple:  stop polluting the air and start fixing the problem,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director.  “With ramped up oil and gas drilling and fracking, and more coal mining on the horizon, the Bureau of Land Management can’t ignore the fact that Colorado’s clean air is at risk and that they have an obligation to do something about it.”

In a formal petition filed with National, State, and local Bureau of Land Management officials, Guardians is calling on the Agency to address the fact that the monitoring site in Rangely, Colorado now shows that Rio Blanco County, which is located in the heart of the Bureau’s White River Field Office, is violating federal health standards for ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog.  Colorado air regulators have confirmed this violation, the first-ever for western Colorado. 

Ozone, the key ingredient of smog, forms when air pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks, and oil and gas drilling reacts with sunlight.  A poisonous gas, ozone is linked to a number of adverse health effects, including asthma attacks and even premature death.  Children, seniors, those with respiratory conditions, and even active adults are most at risk.

While indicating that air quality in the region is a major health risk, the violation is also indicative of unchecked air pollution.  According to the State of Colorado, the primary culprit for the ozone is oil and gas industry emissions, although the Bureau of Land Management has disclosed that coal mining and other industrial activities are major sources of pollution.

As the primary land manager in the Rio Blanco County, as well as the overseer of most of the region’s oil and gas and coal development, the Bureau of Land Management is therefore responsible for approving most of the activities that are contributing to the region’s unhealthy ozone.

The Bureau of Land Management is currently weighing whether to allow increased oil and gas drilling in the White River Field Office, as well as whether to allow the expansion of the Deserado Coal Mine, located just 10 miles northeast of Rangely.

The Bureau has taken the position that both ramped up oil and gas drilling and expanded coal mining would not jeopardize air quality either within or near the White River Field Office.  In a Draft Environmental Impact Statement released in 2012 for a plan to add 15,000 new oil and gas wells in the White River Field Office, the Bureau concluded that the ozone standards were already being protected and that they would continue to be protected.  In the face of actual monitoring data showing otherwise, this position is no longer valid. 

“The BLM needs to take responsibility for the reality that its decisions are degrading air quality,” said Nichols.  “We can no longer accept business as usual in the White River Field Office, this means that clean air has to come before rubber stamping more coal and more oil and gas.”

In its petition, Guardians called on the Bureau of Land Management to put the brakes on pollution and to update its environmental analyses to ensure the latest information regarding ozone impacts is taken into account before more drilling, more fracking, and more mining is approved.  Guardians called on the Bureau of Land Management to update its 2012 Draft Environmental Impact Statement for oil and gas development, as well as fix other analyses prepared in support of coal mining and oil and gas drilling. 

Under the federal National Environmental Policy Act, agencies like the Bureau of Land Management have a duty to take into account significant new information related to environmental impacts.  The purpose is to ensure that the Bureau effectively protects the environment and appropriately informs the public. 

Guardians called on the Bureau of Land Management to respond within 60 days to its petition.  A copy of the petition, including exhibits to the petition, can be downloaded here >>