Monitors in Western Colorado Set to Track Smog

It's been a long time coming, but Colorado health officials are finally getting around to installing more ground-level ozone monitors in western Colorado.

According to the health officials, ozone monitors are going to be installed in the town of Cortez, in Montezuma County, in Palisade, near Grand Junction, and in Rifle, located in Garfield County.

The monitors are getting installed in time to start tracking ozone levels this summer. Ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog, is a widespread and harmful air pollutant that can trigger asthma attacks, keep kids from school, and even lead to premature death.

Some ozone monitoring has been done in parts of western Colorado, but the monitoring hasn't been rigorous enough to know whether or not we're complying with federal health standards that limit ozone. Sporadic monitoring in 2006 and 2007 in Garfield County, the epicenter of Colorado's latest oil and gas drilling boom, found that ozone levels exceeded federal health limits at times. Unfortunately, the monitoring wasn't continuous enough to know for certain whether federal health limits were met.

The only complete ozone monitoring that has been undertaken so far in western Colorado has been on the Southern Ute Reservation and in Mesa Verde National Park, all in the four corners region of southwestern Colorado. This monitoring has been undertaken by National Park and tribal officials, and while these monitors haven't yet violated federal health limits, they've shown some high readings. One monitor in La Plata County on Southern Ute land showed ozone levels as high as 82 parts per billion last summer. Current health standards are set at 75 parts per billion.

Although we agree wholeheartedly with Christopher Dann, the public information officer with the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, that "People are the best monitors," we're pleased that more rigorous ozone monitoring is set to get started this summer.

Tougher Tailpipe Standards

Stronger limits on air pollution from vehicle tailpipes are set to take effect in the Denver metro area. The tougher standards were adopted earlier this year to help reduce harmful ozone pollution in the region for this coming summer, and come on the heels of Governor Ritter's call to develop measures to reduce ozone in 2008 and keep people safe.

And speaking of tailpipe pollution, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action and a coalition of other public health groups just successfully sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to revise carbon monoxide air quality standards. Cars and trucks are the biggest source of carbon monoxide pollution. A federal judge ordered the EPA to get moving to review and revise nationwide carbon monoxide standards to safeguard public health.

BBC Reports: All is not Well in the Gas Patch

This BBC report recently aired, learn for yourself what the natural gas boom is doing to the clean air and the communities of western Colorado.

San Luis Valley Oil and Gas Leases Yanked

144,000 acres of the northern San Luis Valley of Colorado have been withdrawn from an upcoming oil and gas lease auction, a big win for wildlife, for the climate, and for the folks living the San Luis Valley.

The Bureau of Land Management had originally proposed to lease an unprecedented amount of lands in the Rio Grande National Forest and near Crestone, Colorado, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo range.  Once the leases were sold, oil and gas drillers would have the right to drill these sensitive lands. 

In April, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, the Western Environmental Law Center, the San Luis Valley Ecosystems Council, and many other groups officially protested the lease auction.  Local governments, including Rio Grande County, Saguache County, the town of Del Norte, joined in protesting.

At the heels of the protests, both Senator Ken Salazar and Representative John Salazar jointly called on the Bureau of Land Management calling on them to withdraw the San Luis Valley oil and gas leases.

It's a big win to be sure, and hopefully the San Luis Valley will stay safe from oil and gas drilling.

Cleaner Air along the Front Range

Earlier this week, a coalition of public health and environmental groups called on the Regional Air Quality Council to set their sights on meeting the newer, stronger limit on smog along the Front Range, instead of an older, weaker standard.

Yesterday, the Council heeded the call and unanimously voted to set as their goal meeting the new smog standard.  The move promises cleaner air for the Front Range and healthier communities.

To recap, last March the Environmental Protection Agency revised the standard limiting ground-level ozone nationwide.  Ground-level ozone is the key ingredient of smog.  The new standard limits ozone to no more than 75 parts per billion over eight hours.  The old standard limited ozone to no more than 84 parts per billion, and the Front Range violated that standard last year.  Unfortunately, while we have a new ozone standard, current efforts to reduce ozone have been focused on meeting the older limits.

The Regional Air Quality Council's vote yesterday means that our smog reduction efforts along the Front Range now need to focus on meeting the newer smog limits.  It's a smart move, and public health stands to benefit tremendously.

With our goal set, the next step is deciding what smog reduction strategies we need to adopt.  We're one big step closer to cleaner, healthier air here along the Front Range, and we hope to help make the next big steps toward our ultimate goal.

On a related note, yesterday the American Lung Association also released their annual State of the Air report.  The Denver metro area has some pretty bad grades because of its air pollution.  You can check the state of your air on the American Lung Association's website--be sure to send a letter for clean, healthy air!

Clean Air, Clean Air, Clean Air

Here's a recap of where Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action has left its mark for clean air in the region:

In response to a petition filed by Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, the CEMEX cement plant in Lyons is facing scrutiny by the Environmental Protection Agency. The petition calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to require CEMEX to install the best pollution controls on its smokestack. CEMEX claims its spent "millions" to clean up the Lyons cement plant, yet the company hasn't spent a penny on upgrading controls on its smokestack.

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action has taken aim at climate change. Together with a number of local, regional, and national health and environmental groups, we've challenged the Bureau of Land Management's decision to auction hundreds of thousands of acres of Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico for more oil and gas drilling, drilling that will fuel global warming pollution.

And earlier this week, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action challenged a decision by the Forest Service to allow a western Colorado coal mine to vent billions of cubic feet of methane--again  Methane is not only a valuable gas, it's 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. We successfully overturned the same decision last February.

And you heard it from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first: people are the best air quality monitors.