(Colorado) Senate Bill 19-181

Enabling legislation directs the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to adopt rules to minimize methane, VOCs and NOx from production, processing, gathering & boosting, storage, and transmission facilities.

 

Further, the law directs the COGCC to review existing rules on oil and gas well production and compressor stations and consider adopting more stringent versions, including: 

* semi-annual LDAR (previously, some lower emitting facilities were inspected only once a year); 

* regular inspection of transmission and compressor stations; 

* installation of continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) at facilities with large potential emissions, multi-well facilities, and those in proximity to occupied dwellings; and 

* emissions reductions requirements from pneumatic devices.

 

The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission issued updated rules in response to this statute, in December 2019, September 2020 and February 2021. They will be undertaking an additional rulemaking hearing later in 2021 to further minimize emissions from the oil and gas industry. 

 

Meanwhile, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) finalized their first round of rulemaking hearings in response to this legislation (known as “Mission Change Rules”) and they will be undertaking an additional rulemaking hearing later in 2021 related to this statute. Among the Mission Change Rules adopted by COGCC is a requirement to evaluate and address the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development, including a quantitative evaluation of the incremental increase in certain pollutants, such as methane, as well as a prohibition on routine flaring.

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