Mobile Source Inventory Piceance Pilot Project
The Piceance Pilot Project (P3) evaluates the contribution of O&G Mobile emissions to the overall impact of the oil and gas industry in the Piceance Basin of Western Colorado. During review of the Phase III Emission Inventory (found here), members of the O&G Workgroup noted that the existing WRAP O&G Emission Inventory efforts focused only on Point & Area sources of air pollution, and failed to include emissions from On-road and Non-road Mobile sources also associated with these O&G production fields. Significant vehicular traffic is associated with O&G operations and the Piceance Pilot Project aims to quantify On-road and Non-road Mobile emissions to complete the overall emission picture.

This project is sponsored by the Rocky Mountain State Air Pollution Control Agencies in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, where some of the most intensive O&G development is occurring in the Rocky Mountain region. Funding was provided with $100K from Region 8 EPA’s Energy Overtarget program. Environ International, with extensive experience in two areas critical to this project (Mobile Source and O&G Point/Area Source Emission Inventories), was selected as the contractor for developing and analyzing these O&G Field Mobile Source emissions.

The Scope of Work for this project was to compile a complete Mobile Source emissions inventory for the Piceance Basin, and to make a comparison of the resultant inventory against the Point & Area emission totals to evaluate what significance these Mobile emissions play in the overall impact from O&G operations. As part of the project, Environ also developed a set of “unit operation” factors to allow reviewers to translate the evaluation of the Piceance Basin to other O&G development basins within the WRAP region.

The project Technical Steering committee initially identified over 100 operators who had some form of permitted operations in the Piceance through the State of Colorado air program. It was quickly determined that most of the necessary information could be obtained from the seven largest players in the basin, consisting of Antero, Bill Barrett Corporation, Chevron, Encana, Exxon, Oxy Petroleum and Williams. The data was obtained through a Mobile Source Survey Questionnaire which was sent out in mid-July 2010. 

P3 is targeting 2009 mobile source activity data (historical 2006 records were not readily available). The existing Point & Area Piceance Phase III inventory is compiled for 2006 base year and in order to make a direct comparison, the P3 Project is beginning a triennial update for 2009 data from the Piceance.

Records of conference calls are collected at the Oil & Gas Emission Workgroup main page found here.

Contact Lee Gribovicz for more information: E-Mail [email protected], Phone: (623)312-2962.

P3 Reports:

P3 Background Mobile Source Literature Review & Background Report (June, 2010) PDF

P3 Oil & Gas Mobile Sources Project Survey Instrument (June, 2010) XLS

P3 Oil & Gas Mobile Sources Project Final Report (July, 2011) PDF

P3 Oil & Gas Mobile Sources Project Emission Summary Spreadsheet (May, 2011) XLSX