The Garfield County Commissioners have approved funding for air emissions studies. The tests will be done for natural gas drilling and completion operations in the county.

The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) signed a formal agreement with Colorado State University on Monday.

The agreement provides substantial funding for an academic study to collect data on air emissions surrounding well pad activities in Garfield County. 

The research will examine 24 different projects including test drilling, fracking and overworking.

The commissioners are calling the research exciting and say everyone should know about it.

“And remember Garfield County is not doing this, the scientists at CSU also Osha and the EPA and Noah are all the experts that will be doing these and it's all scientific non political,” commissioner John Martin said.  

The board committed a $1,000,000 towards the $1.7 million dollar study. The money will come from its oil and gas mitigation fund.

The air emissions study will be conducted over a three-year period beginning this year, and concluding in the fall of 2015.