Although there are no oil and gas drilling activities inside Longmont city limits, oil and gas development continues to occur in neighboring communities, which can lead to air pollution that drifts into Longmont. Staff are closely monitoring levels of methane and benzene, two important indicators of oil and gas emissions measured in the Longmont air quality study.  

The City files formal complaints with the state’s public health department and the oil and gas commission whenever the levels of benzene or methane are measured above specific thresholds. During Quarter 2 of 2022, no methane or benzene events exceeded complaint thresholds at the Longmont’s monitoring stations.

A quarterly summary of air quality data will be sent to Longmont City Council and those reports are posted on the City’s Oil and Gas Monitoring webpage. A quarterly notice will also be sent out as an eNotification.

As always, recent air quality data is posted in near-real time online at https://www.bouldair.com/longmont.htm and the full data set going back over 2 years can be seen at http://www.bouldairtools.com/interactive/.