The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rejected four Colorado-issued air pollution permits at Weld County oil and gas processing sites, saying the state must rewrite the permits to ensure ozone-causing chemicals are burned off before hitting the atmosphere.
Environmental advocates who won the EPA order through petitions say the ruling could impact thousands of other oil and gas permits in Colorado and other states, because Colorado’s recent ozone failures mean far more drillers must get air pollution permits limiting ozone-causing chemicals. The EPA may now consistently order those drilling and processing sites to test the effectiveness of their toxics flaring rather than rely on predictions of how the equipment will work, the advocates said.