Pitkin County working toward plan to eliminate significant emission source

When Pitkin County adopted its climate action plan in March, commissioners agreed to an ambitious goal: a 90% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from 2019 levels by 2050. 

One of the major sources of those emissions were what’s known as “fugitive emissions” that leak from mines in the Coal Basin area outside of Redstone. 

The installation of a methane capture and destruction system in the Coal Basin has the potential to significantly reduce the county’s greenhouse-gas emissions, which could move the county much closer to its 2050 goals. 

According to data from NASA, methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. NASA mapped methane leaks around the world and found that fugitive methane leaks commonly come from a variety of sources, like defunct and active oil wells, natural gas pipelines, coal mines, and other sources.

The Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) estimates that the carbon dioxide equivalent of the methane emissions coming out of Coal Basin could account for as much as 30% of Pitkin County’s yearly emissions totals. 

The leaks don’t stem from one hole in the ground that can be easily capped. According to Tara Stitzlein, chief of staff at CORE, the emissions are more diffuse across several spots throughout Coal Basin.

However, the installation of a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) at the Dutch Creek No. 1 mine in Coal Basin could capture and destroy as much as 20% of the methane leaking out from the Coal Basin area, which would account for 6% of total Pitkin County emissions. 

Stitzlein said the total methane emissions from the area is currently estimated at 1,950 metric tons of methane per year. That is the equivalent of the operation of more than 36,000 vehicles a year. 

“The way that the (regenerative thermal oxidizer) works is that methane gas stream enters the RTO and it burns it off, and that gas is converted to water and (carbon dioxide),” she said. “There are still emissions, but carbon dioxide is a much less potent greenhouse gas than methane.”

Removing 20% of those emissions would be like removing more than 7,000 vehicles from the road in a whole year. 

“We’re finding (fugitive emissions) to be a pretty significant source of greenhouse gases in the state of Colorado,” said Michael Port, climate action analyst at Pitkin County. “We know now that Coal Basin is locally an issue, as well. So these are individual locations where we can potentially try to reduce those carbon emissions from occurring.”

CORE is currently undergoing the permitting process with the U.S. Forest Service to approve the construction of an RTO in Coal Basin. If permits are issued, CORE will be able to make use of a $700,000 grant from the state of Colorado to begin to make headway towards the elimination of some of the fugitive emissions in Pitkin County.