WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Colorado Fails to Clean up Smog Pollution Along Front Range

Attempts to Clear the Air Falling Short as EPA Finds State Failing to Protect Public Health
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663 jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

Denver—Clean air along Colorado’s Front Range continues to suffer as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today found that the state has failed to meet limits on smog pollution meant to protect public health.

“Governor Hickenlooper and his Department of Public Health and Environment just don’t seem to get it, clean air isn’t just important, it’s critical for our health and quality of life,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “It’s time for the state to stop failing when it comes to keeping smog out of our skies; it’s time to actually put our health and our environment first.”

In a notice published in today’s Federal Register, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that the Denver-Boulder-Greeley-Ft. Collins-Loveland, Colorado area “failed to attain,” or to meet, federal limits on ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog. This region was deemed to be a “nonattainment area,” or a dirty air area, in 2012 because of excessive ozone.

Under the Clean Air Act, the state was required to bring the Front Range into compliance with smog limits by July of 2015. Colorado failed to meet this deadline.

The finding comes on the heels of the American Lung Association’s State of the Air report, which confirmed that the state is failing to protect public health from ozone pollution in eight Colorado Front Range counties—Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld.

Ozone forms when pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks, and oil and gas operations reacts with sunlight. Although up high, ozone protects the Earth from ultraviolet radiation, down low, the poisonous gas is a serious public health risk.

Today’s announcement underscores that state efforts to reduce air pollution, particularly from the oil and gas industry, are falling short. Although the state has tightened emission limits for oil and gas operations, which recent state inventories continue to confirm is largest source of ozone forming pollution along the Front Range, the region continues to fail to meet smog limits.

“The writing on the wall is clear, the state’s pollution reduction efforts are falling dangerously short,” said Nichols. “Governor Hickenlooper needs to wake up to the fact that when it comes to protecting our clean air, failure is not an option.”

In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency set a health-based limit on ozone in the air, limiting concentrations to no more 0.075 parts per million over an eight-hour period. Responding to new scientific recommendations, in 2015 the Agency set a new limit of 0.070 parts per million over an eight-hour period.

According to the Department of Public Health and Environment, four monitors along the Front Range, currently show violations of the 2008 ozone standard and 10 monitors are currently in violation of the new ozone standard.

Today’s finding is a determination that after eight years, the Front Range still has failed to meet the 2008 limits. It also underscores that the state is likely not on track to bring the region into compliance with the 2015 ozone standard.

“If the state continues to avoid doing what is necessary to reduce smog pollution, people along the Front Range can expect to be smothered in smog for years to come,” said Nichols. “That would not only unacceptable, that would border on a crime against public health.”

The consequences of today’s finding are that the state now faces more mandatory pollution clean up requirements under the Clean Air Act, including more rigorous tailpipe testing mandates and vapor recovery systems for gasoline stations. All polluters along the Front Range also face tightened emission limits and more controls.

If the state continues to fail to bring the Front Range into compliance with ozone limits, the state faces sanctions from the Environmental Protection Agency, including lost highway funding, and even more restrictive pollution control requirements.