BLM Colorado Air Resources - Our Story
BLM Colorado works to protect air resources in accordance with the directives provided by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and our internal Comprehensive Air Resource Protection Protocol (CARPP). To meet objectives, we collaborate with agencies that have the authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate air quality standards including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC), and ensure the activities we authorize are in accordance with their regulations. In addition, we partner with other agencies (including other Federal Land Managers) that have specific expertise for air resource related concerns and participate in technical working groups to stay integrated in science.
Completion of technical air resource analyses to adequately inform BLM’s decision making in an evolving/changing landscape requires BLM to implement an adaptive management approach. Most of the emissions sources that BLM Colorado authorizes are associated with new federal oil and gas development and operations at broad spatial and temporal scales that are dynamic and thus subject to change. The BLM completes photo-chemical grid modeling (PGM) studies to analyze potential air quality impacts for future federal oil and gas development/operations and projections for other emissions source sectors. Our adaptive management strategy includes routinely evaluating existing conditions and trends, and comparing those to levels modeled to validate the use of the modeling results for completing NEPA assessments. Our latest Annual Report describes how oil and gas in Colorado is “tracking” compared to modeled levels, and how our PGM modeling study results could be applied for describing cumulative air quality conditions and federal oil and gas contributions to those conditions. BLM Colorado currently uses two PGM studies for planning and project-level air quality impact analyses.
- BLM’s Colorado Air Resource Management Modeling Study (CARMMS) modeled two oil and gas development scenarios (“low” and “high”) for 10 years of new oil and gas development/operations in Colorado. The CARMMS low scenario assumes that new oil and gas development would follow historical trends, and the high scenario is based on full reasonably foreseeable development (RFD – upper-bound) levels for each BLM Colorado planning area.
- BLM’s Rocky Mountain regional energy-focused air quality modeling study predicts circa 2032 concentrations based on the EPA’s 2016 v2 year 2032 future projections and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) oil and gas projections to allocate new oil and gas development and production levels for each Rocky Mountain Region Basin.
At the project-level stage (when BLM receives new oil and gas drilling permits), detailed emissions inventories based on operator-provided data and information are developed for each proposed action. BLM uses a comprehensive Emissions Modeling Inventory Tool (EMIT) to gather data/information from operators and then calculate potential air pollutant (including greenhouse gases) emissions for each foreseeable activity and equipment operation. These inventories, along with our modeling studies, are used to comprehensively complete NEPA assessments. The CDPHE has stringent oil and gas regulations that reduce air pollutant emissions and minimize impacts, but our tools and analyses provide for a different perspective and the ability to analyze impacts associated with federal oil and gas only.
