Democratic state legislators on Wednesday rolled out a suite of bills aimed at improving the Front Range’s air quality, which is among the worst in the nation.
The bills will focus on curbing toxic emissions from oil and gas drilling sites by changing how Colorado issues permits, lengthening the state’s summer ozone season to five months instead of three, and increasing the amount of money companies could be fined if they violate the terms of their air permits.
The bills are the result of a legislative interim committee on ozone air quality that was established during the 2023 session. Politicians, environmentalists and others met for months to study the state’s pollution, which is most noticeable on hot summer days when a brown smog blankets the Front Range. The committee was not allowed to draft bills but was tasked with recommending new policies for improving air quality.
“Although Colorado has an ongoing ozone crisis that will worsen with climate change, the state has repeatedly failed to meet federal ozone standards established to protect public health and welfare in the Denver metro/north Front Range nonattainment area, where a majority of Coloradans live,” the preamble of one of the bills states.
For years, the Front Range has been out of compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards and in 2022 the Environmental Protection Agency designated the nine-county northern Front Range region as being in “severe nonattainment,” which means more federal regulations will be imposed on consumers and businesses. And while air quality has worsened, the people most impacted by the foul air have pushed the state to do better.
This year, the American Lung Association listed three Colorado cities among the most polluted in the United States. Ozone pollution causes breathing disorders such as asthma and lung cancer and also contributes to pre-term births and low birth weights as well as heart attacks and stroke, the report said.
“Nurses across Colorado’s Front Range are perpetually alarmed by the frequency and severity of poor air quality and its impacts on the health of our communities,” Dr. Darci Martinez, president of the Denver chapter of the National Alliance of Hispanic Nurses, said in a news release. “The need to act on ozone is critical, especially for communities of color, who disproportionately bear the burden of health-harming emissions and other climate impacts.”
Colorado’s oil and gas industry is gearing up for a fight over the proposed bills.
Already, a bill introduced earlier this month would phase out new permits for drilling by 2030.
Oil and gas industry representatives argue the legislation would threaten the state’s economy as operators work to provide fuel for cars, trucks, trains and airplanes that move people and products across the state.
“This impending suite of legislation ignores the meaningful steps industry has taken to protect public health, safety and the environment, and stands to impact not only the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers, but also minimizes private property rights and the industry’s significant economic contributions to Colorado,” a news release from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute said.
One bill’s goal is to reduce toxic air emissions, one bill would increase enforcement power for state air quality regulators and the third bill would change how the state issues air pollution permits to oil and gas operators.
The bill that addresses emissions revisits requirements the legislature already put in place in previous years, including limits on greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and cutting the use of large, diesel-powered off-road vehicles, primarily used in the oil and gas industry.
That bill also would expand the summer ozone season by two months, making it stretch from May 1 to Sept. 30. Many state regulations in place to curb harmful emissions are only effective during the summer ozone season so an expansion would force industry to follow them for five months rather than three.
The bill that would boost enforcement powers would establish definitions for repeat violators and “high priority repeat violators,” allowing regulators to increase fines against companies that exceed the amount of pollution their permits allow them to emit.
It also would leave regulators less room to negotiate settlements as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division recently did with Suncor Energy. And Suncor likely would fall into the “high priority repeat violators” category.
Finally, the third bill would change how the state issues air permits to companies that pollute, an effort that failed during the 2023 legislative session because of a lack of support from Gov. Jared Polis.
Measures in the latest bill would prevent the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, from issuing drilling permits before a company has obtained an air pollution permit from state health department. It also would prevent companies from starting construction of new well pads once they apply for an air permit, making them wait until a permit is approved.
It also would limit where a permit could be issued, preventing new permits in communities labeled as disproportionately impacted by pollution along the Front Range.
“Passing these bills would be a significant step toward addressing Colorado’s ozone crisis,” Rebecca Curry, policy advocate for Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office, said in a news release. “Communities continue to suffer because our worst polluters are not being held accountable. The legislature must take meaningful steps to address our broken polluter permitting system, strengthen the enforcement of air quality regulations, and reduce fossil fuel emissions.”
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.