Eight natural gas processing facilities in Weld County, Colo., within the Denver Metro/North Front Range Ozone Nonattainment Area, are expected to improve their leak detection and repair procedures.

The Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Colorado negotiated this settlement with DCP Operating Company LP and five additional subsidiaries of DCP Midstream LP, according to a July 25 EPA news release. 

“This settlement will reduce emissions of over 288 tons of volatile organic compounds and 1,300 tons of methane from production areas near northern Colorado communities, a majority of which are disproportionately impacted by pollution,” EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker said in the release. "EPA continues to deliver cleaner air through the rigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act."

DCP has agreed to optimize leak monitoring and repair methods at the Greeley, Kersey/Mewbourne, Platteville, Roggen, Spindle, O'Connor and Lucerne natural gas processing facilities and the yet-to-be-built Bighorn plant, the release reported. 

"The Air Pollution Control Division’s Leak Detection and Repair Program is among the most innovative programs in the nation," Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, said in the release. "Because of our inspectors and enforcement action team, we are able to hold DCP accountable to reducing their emissions from potential leaks.”