• Jan 21, 2021 Maeve Conran/KGNU
Colorado’s Northern Front Range has been out of compliance with federal ozone standards since 2012. The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to downgrade the region’s ozone status from “serious” to “severe.” Better air monitoring in some cities shows that emissions from the oil industry is contributing to bad air quality. One researcher has been shining a light on it. It s made him a target of the industry.
4:59
Dr. Detlev Helmig, an air quality researcher from Boulder, has given dozens of public presentations on pollution over the past few years in communities along the Front Range.
When he is not speaking to the public, he’s often found at Boulder Reservoir, at one of 5 research sites he operates in the area. This small hut is full of air monitoring equipment that tracks everything from ozone to VOCs, that’s Volatile Organic Compounds which are emitted by oil and gas operations.
While Boulder County is tightening regulations on drilling, its neighbor to the east, Weld County, is the most fracked county in the state and Helmig’s research shows that is impacting air quality in the entire region.
• Jan 28, 2021 Mark Duggan
The administration is putting the brakes on new oil and gas leases on public lands. The move is being met with cheers from conservation groups and legal threats from the fossil fuels industry. We look at what it means for one large drilling proposal in the mountains east of Bayfield.
• Jan 28, 2021 Mark Duggan
The administration is putting the brakes on new oil and gas leases on public lands. The move is being met with cheers from conservation groups and legal threats from the fossil fuels industry. We look at what it means for one large drilling proposal in the mountains east of Bayfield.