Moves to delay methane polluter fee could impact Colorado air quality
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As Congress debates the GOP's sweeping budget reconciliation bill, some lawmakers are working to include a provision which would delay a methane polluter fee.
The Waste Emissions Charge was meant to be an incentive for oil and gas operators to minimize leaks and flaring that send methane into the atmosphere by capturing it, and bringing it to market. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is more than 80 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2.
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Randy Willard, president of the nonprofit Save the Aurora Reservoir, said reining in pollution is important on a number of levels, including climate change.
"Also from an air standpoint, here in Colorado, we have some of the worst air in the country," Willard pointed out. "We know that 60 percent of that, at least, comes from oil and gas production in our space. And a big chunk of that is methane."
Colorado has failed to meet Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards for decades, coinciding with a boom in fracking operations. Some smaller oil and gas operators have complained about the costs associated with capturing methane. Delaying the pollution fee would be in sync with President Donald Trump's campaign promises to remove regulations on the fossil fuel industry in order to achieve energy dominance.
The International Energy Agency estimates at least 50 percent of oil and gas methane emissions can be avoided at no net cost to operators.
David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, believes the fee is critical for holding oil and gas companies accountable.
"They can spend the money necessary to reduce waste and capture and sell that methane and natural gas, or they can pay a fee for the pollution that they're emitting," Jenkins noted.
Americans largely support requiring oil and gas companies to pay pollution fees, according to a recent poll.
Jenkins added some operators are already deploying methane capture technologies, many of which were pioneered in Colorado.
"It just seems to make no sense why politicians, and some bad apples in the oil and gas industry, are pushing against something so basic," Jenkins observed. "And it does so much good for so little investment."
