New worries about air pollution from oil and gas operations in Colorado

I've blogged before about the severe air pollution attributed to oil and gas production operations in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.

Now we've learned that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been approving dozens of new drilling projects in Colorado without conducting proper environmental analysis of potential impacts to air quality, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Fortunately our lawyers are on the case and NRDC has joined with our Colorado partners to file a lawsuit to protect the air quality in western Colorado, which is essential to protect the wild public lands in the region as well as human health in nearby communities.

A BLM spokesman was quoted in an article as saying that “....other entities, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, have greater expertise and responsibility for air quality studies than does the BLM." If the BLM needs this expertise to conduct appropriate environmental analysis, it should ensure that the expertise is acquired and incorporated before approving new projects.