For more than 25 years, Earthworks has been documenting the impacts of oil and gas operations nationwide through comprehensive research, involvement with frontline communities, and since 2014, with optical gas imaging (OGI) technology – a powerful tool which makes 20 normally invisible oil and gas pollutants, including the carcinogens benzene and toluene, and methane, visible. Earthworks collaborates with scientists, government agencies, regulators, and residents. All of our thermographers (OGI camera operators) receive the same training and certification through the Infrared Training Center (ITC) as the oil and gas industry and regulators to do the same work of detecting and documenting pollution.
Our thermographers have spent hundreds of hours in the field filming a wide range of pollution sources and reviewing OGI footage. Our cameras are the same model used by industry and government agencies to detect leaks and chronic pollution, and our camera operators receive the same training. We have a highly qualified team to write about and publicize the resulting videos and related information.
With video evidence in hand, Earthworks’ team of experts uses these videos to file official complaints with state and national regulators and/or help communities inform decision makers and put democracy to work to better protect community health.
To date in Colorado, our team has conducted almost 1900 surveys of 800 oil and gas facilities and has shared 365 observations of potential compliance issues supported by OGI evidence with regulators at Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) and Energy and Carbon Management Commission…
