New Filing to Defend Colorado’s Oil & Gas Pollution Rules and Protect Public Health, Climate

(DENVER) Environmental Defense Fund and Healthy Air & Water Colorado today came to the defense of rules adopted last year by the Air Quality Control Commission that strengthened regulations to reduce climate and air pollution from oil and gas industry operations across the state.

Two separate lawsuits were filed in March (one by group of Western Slope counties and another by Weld County) seeking to roll back the new methane and ozone pollution regulations that were adopted unanimously by the AQCC in December of 2019. Thirty- five local government entities including counties, municipalities, and public health departments from across the state as well as thousands of ordinary Coloradans supported the rules. EDF and Healthy Air & Water Colorado filed motions (available here and here) to intervene in both cases in order to defend those rules.

“This policy has been enormously successful and highly cost-effective, elevating Colorado to become a national leader in forward-thinking solutions. Rolling back clean air protections in the middle of the COVID crisis is a disservice to the state, and ultimately to the industry itself. It would compromise our public health at a time when we can least afford it, and amplify our climate problems.”

• Dan Grossman, Senior Director of State Advocacy, Environmental Defense Fund

“These commonsense clean air protections are entirely achievable and will make Colorado’s air healthier for everyone to breathe. Instead of attacking pollution safeguards during a public health crisis, we should seize every opportunity to clean our air and reduce emissions that can make Coloradans sicker. These rules will do just that – and benefit every single one of us”

• Jake Williams, Executive Director, Healthy Air & Water Colorado