Media Contact:
Alan Septoff, (202) 271-2355, aseptoff@earthworks.
Statement of Earthworks’ Energy Program Director Bruce Baizel on health study released by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment:
“Colorado regulators have finally confirmed what communities, Earthworks own staff in the field, and scientists — including the Colorado School of Public Health — have been asserting for years: oil and gas production near homes and communities puts human health at risk.
“The state of Colorado’s acknowledgment of this threat demands immediate action.
“Colorado regulators must, at a minimum, pause permitting for any drilling activity within 2000 feet of any home, school or public activity area. It must also begin to monitor comprehensively emissions from existing oil and gas production sites while it works to fully implement the reforms passed by the legislature last year.”
BACKGROUND
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has responded by mapping out key steps for action in response to these findings. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, however, has failed to announce to any immediate action.
- LINK to playlist of optical gas imaging videos showing pollution from sites in Colorado’s Front Range
- LINK to oil and gas threat map that shows nearly a quarter million Coloradans within a ½ mile threat radius of oil and gas development, more than 50,000 of them school children,
- Link to Earthworks Press Release on EPA hearing in Dallas on October 17th, 2019 regarding Trump Administration rollbacks to national oil and gas methane standards.