As anyone who loves in or has visited Southwest Colorado knows, it’s truly a special place. This region holds deep significance to the Indigenous tribes who have lived here for generations, and so many people choose to call this region home because of our shared dedication to public lands, clean air and clean water, which are essential to our livelihoods and quality of life.
Given this legacy, areas like ours have a vested interest when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and safeguarding our air quality.
In February next year, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission will consider revisions to a state rule to address ozone-causing pollutants from the oil and gas sector. This includes a plan to gradually eliminate the use of natural gas-emitting devices known as pneumatic controllers that regulate oil and gas equipment and replace them with cleaner, non-emitting alternatives. Pneumatic controllers are significant sources of methane – a powerful, climate-warming greenhouse gas – as well as volatile organic compounds that cause ozone and other pollutants that pose risks to our health.
The current proposal would give oil and gas facilities within the Denver Metro/Northern Front Range ozone “nonattainment area” – where the levels of ozone pollution exceed federal standards – until May 2027 to retrofit these polluting devices, while communities like mine outside this area would be exposed to pneumatic controller emissions for an additional two years – until March 2029 – before companies have to fully comply.
As we in Southwest Colorado know, pollution does not adhere to borders or boundaries, and the state’s own greenhouse gas data indicates that about 70% of methane emissions caused by pneumatic controllers come from outside the DMNFR ozone nonattainment area. What’s more, research has consistently found significant greenhouse gas emissions in the Four Corners attributed to oil and gas activity, and Western Slope counties including La Plata County have repeatedly received poor grades for ozone and air quality in the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report.
The timeline for phasing in cleaner alternatives to pneumatic devices should be the same throughout Colorado. Pollution and air quality concerns affect everyone, and we can build a healthier, more resilient future if we adopt robust regulations and apply them fairly across the state.
We face potential rollbacks of critical federal environmental regulations and general uncertainty for our climate in the years ahead, and it will likely be up to states and local governments to defend our environment. As an elected official, I take this responsibility seriously. In recent years, La Plata County has strengthened and refined our own local oil and gas regulations and taken other steps to be strong environmental stewards. I’m ready to work with state leaders to protect the natural resources so important to my constituents and safeguard public health. Future generations are depending on all of us to do this work.
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a federal rule this past spring to cut methane emissions across the oil and gas sector, directing each state to propose a plan for implementing the rule by March 2026. This upcoming rulemaking before the AQCC is an opportunity to simultaneously set standards that can be incorporated into our state methane plan, equitably address both ozone and climate pollution across the state, and be a role model for others throughout the nation.
Colorado is a demonstrated leader on methane policy. The AQCC now has a chance to set an example once again. I urge the AQCC to make this rulemaking count by ensuring that all Coloradans – including those on the Western Slope – can benefit from a clean and healthy airshed.
Marsha Porter-Norton is a La Plata County commissioner and contributor to Western Leaders Voices, which amplifies the opinions of tribal, local and state elected leaders on conservation issues in the Interior West.
