This past weekend, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) paid a visit to Colorado and took the opportunity to tweet out fear-mongering nonsense about the oil and gas industry without bothering to confirm any facts beforehand. Namely, Ocasio-Cortez incorrectly characterized heat picked up on an infrared camera as “toxic fumes” and publicized results from volatile organic compound (VOC) blood tests—which have been repeatedly denounced by state health regulators as unreliable—as proof of the industry’s negative impact.

Ocasio-Cortez’s opposition to the fossil fuel industry is well-known, so it’s unsurprising—but still disappointing—that she is resorting to the same misleading tactics deployed by environmental activists when discussing the process of hydraulic fracturing.

The New York Congresswoman was in town for a Democratic fundraiser on the University of Colorado Boulder campus where she was joined by Colorado House Speaker KC Becker, who represents Boulder, as well as Secretary of State Jena Griswold. Earlier in the day, Ocasio-Cortez took part in a public forum on climate action co-headlined by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) who also represents the Boulder area.

After the event, Ocasio-Cortez and Neguse met with Broomfield residents to discuss the impacts that fracking has had on the surrounding community.

On Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the following to her 5.4 million followers:

Apparently, she finds a standard drilling infrastructure “appalling” and assumes that Colorado’s oil and gas regulations—considered to be some of the strictest in the nation—allow for air to be “poisoned” by fracking.

As if this alarmist language wasn’t bad enough, there’s only one small problem with her analysis—fracking isn’t even occurring at the site she observed.  The forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera being used in the video isn’t detecting “toxic emissions” as claimed in the tweet but is simply detecting a heat signature caused by high temperature drilling mud circling up to the surface and meeting the cooler fall air.

This was confirmed by the company that owns the site. In fact, that very site was recently evaluated by the Independent Energy Standards Corporation, and was given a “Platinum Rating,” ranking it among the highest scores ever recorded in the United States for facility management and best practices.

Additionally, if there was still doubt on the nature of the site’s emissions, the city of Broomfield can put that to rest.  Broomfield has partnered with two independent third party agencies to conduct 24/7 air monitoring at sites within the city’s borders.  These air monitoring results have shown air quality to be at or below baseline levels with readings coming in far below numbers that would cause any concern.  For instance, the Q2 2019 report found measurements “well below accepted chronic and acute health criteria.”

“Benzene is an important indicator of air pollution from both transportation combustion and oil and gas sources with minimum risk levels (MRLs) of 3 and 9 ppb for chronic and acute exposure, respectively. Considering all 19 monitoring sites, the mean and maximum concentrations of benzene detected for both the Q1 and Q2 periods are well below these values with the average decreasing from 0.20 to 0.12 ppb and the maximum value measured remaining approximately the same at 0.32 ppb.” (emphasis added)

The issue with Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet wasn’t lost on Democratic Wyoming Public Service Commission Deputy Chair Mary Throne, who pushed back on Ocasio-Cortez via Twitter.

As Energy In Depth has previously covered, the use of FLIR cameras are not supported by scientific analysis.  The images are usually to scare the public about methane emissions as we saw recently in Oklahoma courtesy of Earthworks.  The problem is that these cameras can show images that look like an emissions plume, but doesn’t tell us the first thing of what is causing that image—whether it be benign emissions, steam, vapor, or in the case of Broomfield, heat. Of course, anti-fossil fuel activists are quick to deem each of these images harmful without conducting air sampling.

But the FLIR camera claim wasn’t Ocasio-Cortez’s only misstep. She also promoted VOC blood testing as a means of tying oil and gas operations to negative health outcomes.

Energy In Depth has covered claims surrounding VOC blood testing extensively.  Last year, activists attempted to use such tests to curtail oil and natural gas operations and draw direct ties between their results and industry. But these claims were debunked almost immediately by Colorado’s own state regulators as being unreliable. The problem is that there are many sources for VOCs and blood tests do not determine where the source is coming from.  Here’s what then-Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Chief Toxicologist Dr. Mike Van Dyke told Denver7 last year:

“VOCs like we’re talking about, things like benzene, there’s lots of different sources for them. So when we get a blood test back, we’re not sure if this person is exposed from an oil and gas operation [or] they’re expose from driving their car into their garage, increasing the benzene level in their home.”

“Your blood test is only reflecting your last few hours to a day or two of exposure. So whatever you did most-recently could really affect the tests. In terms of percentiles … it’s also important to keep in mind that the entire percentile is still within the normal population range, and the way that’s done is the CDC does sampling across the United States … and these are normal people who are not exposed or don’t live close to oil and gas.”

“I think these blood tests are a huge challenge. These blood tests really require really specialized methods. They require really specialized techniques to ensure there’s not contamination. What we’re aware of is really, at the levels we’re talking about … we’re only aware of one laboratory in the country who can analyze consistently at those levels, and that’s the CDC laboratory.”

Colorado officials also reiterated in public community meetings that air sampling was a much more effective means of monitoring exposure to VOCs and determining whether there was any sort of threat to public health, which, as previously mentioned, is ongoing in Broomfield.

While we’re on the topic of VOCs, let’s delve into some facts:

  • First off, Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry has been able to reduce VOC emissions by half since 2011 while at the same time quadrupling production. This was made possible though partnering with various stakeholder groups and embracing technological innovation.
  • A report by CDPHE that analyzed more than 10,000 air samples in the areas of the state where “substantial” oil and natural gas operations occurred found that levels of emissions were “safe,” even for sensitive populations.
  • The state of Colorado has undergone 14 major rulemakings in less than a decade that cover everything from groundwater testing to air monitoring regulations put into motion after former Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Blue Ribbon Task Force.
  • Weld County, home to 90 percent of Colorado’s oil and natural gas production, has seen death rates for cancer, respiratory illness and heart disease drop by 1.9 percent, 9.1 percent and 21.4 percent respectively since 2002, all the while increasing natural gas production three-fold and oil production 12-fold.

While Ocasio-Cortez’s home state of New York bowed to activist pressure to ban fracking, the West has a successful track record of developing energy resources in a safe, responsible and bipartisan fashion.  It’s important to rely on facts in this case instead of misleading, unsubstantiated claims.