Energy, Utilities & Water  November 13, 2014

CU Study: Oil, gas air pollution in Erie, Platteville increasing

Scientists have found higher levels of some kinds of air pollution in Erie and Platteville than in places such as Houston and Los Angeles, according to a CU study that will be published Friday in the journal Elementa.

Researchers with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder took air measurements from homes in Erie as well as a station in Platteville in 2013.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company that opposes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The drilling technique involves pumping water, sand and chemicals deep underground to extract oil and natural gas.

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In Platteville, scientists found elevated levels of the chemical benzene that could pose a danger to people chronically exposed to the carcinogen over a lifetime, said Chelsea Thompson, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

She said scientists should conduct a long-term health study to determine how those benzene levels might affect people.

Levels of benzene, which also can lead to ozone formation, in Erie were comparable to large cities though lower levels of other chemicals such as ethylbenzene and toluene were detected. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Northern Front Range as exceeding federal ozone levels.

Erie, however, had high concentrations of chemicals such as propane, ethane, butane and pentane that also can cause ozone formation.

Pollution levels have increased despite tightening of emissions standards by the state of Colorado in 2008, according to the study.

But, “probably if there had been no regulations passed at all in 2008, then we would have seen much higher increases,” Thompson said.

It’s too early to tell whether newer air emissions regulations passed by the state of Colorado will help matters, but as oil and gas production grows, new wells will add to the region’s pollution, she said.

Will Allison, director of the Air Pollution Control Division, said that new regulations that began taking effect in April will help reduce the air pollution patterns shown in the study and in monitoring done by the state.

“The new emissions will go a long way toward reducing emissions from the sector,” he said. “Some of this information is consistent with what we’ve been seeing in our own monitoring and is one of the reasons that we moved forward with the rulemaking earlier this year.”

However, he said the state’s data show an overall decrease in oil and gas-related emissions the last decade, which contradicts the study’s finding that pollution has increased.

Encana Corp., which drills oil and gas wells around Erie, has used a variety of technologies to limit emissions, said spokesman Doug Hock. Those include devices that recover or eliminate escaping emissions, drilling with some natural gas-powered rigs instead of only rigs fueled by diesel, using infrared cameras to detect leaks and building a centralized gas facility near Erie that will help limit emissions.

“That will allow us to eliminate sources of emissions by centralizing all of our production facilities in one area rather than having them on pads throughout the field,” Hock said.

The study can be viewed Friday by clicking the following link: http://www.elementascience.org/article/info:doi/10.12952/journal.elementa.000035

Scientists have found higher levels of some kinds of air pollution in Erie and Platteville than in places such as Houston and Los Angeles, according to a CU study that will be published Friday in the journal Elementa.

Researchers with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder took air measurements from homes in Erie as well as a station in Platteville in 2013.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and Patagonia, an outdoor clothing company that opposes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The drilling technique involves pumping water, sand and chemicals deep underground to extract…

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