Colorado violated EPA ozone limits 40 times in summer of 2024
Monitors watching the nine Front Range counties in Colorado's "nonattainment" area for toxic ozone recorded violations of the EPA's 2008 cap of 75 parts per billion on 22 summer days, according to the Regional Air Quality Council. The monitors showed exceedances of the tighter 2015 EPA standard of 70 parts per billion on 18 days.
Together, the 40 violation days were higher than totals in eight of the past 10 summer seasons, RAQC said.
Colorado must bring average ozone levels below both the 2008 and 2015 standards in the next few years, or face increasing restrictions from EPA sanctions. The northern Front Range counties have already been forced to use more expensive reformulated gasoline that has lower emissions, and Colorado Air Pollution Control officials must now write permits for any business projected to exceed 25 tons of emissions a year, down from the previous threshold of 50 tons per year.
Some recent regulations have yet to fully impact high ozone levels and need a chance to work, said RAQC spokesperson David Sabados. But policymakers cannot rest on past actions, he added — new sets of rules are needed to reverse the rising ozone trend of the past few years.
"There's more that needs to get done, and we can't just rely on what's already passed getting fully implemented. We need to be looking at other options as well," Sabados said.
The first two recommendations from the RAQC's season wrapup would demand new cuts from the Colorado oil and gas industry, one of the biggest in the nation. Ozone is created from a mix of volatile organic compounds from petroleum and other sources, nitrogen oxides from industrial and vehicle sources, and particulates like wildfire smoke, all cooking under 90 degree-plus summer skies.
While the state oil and gas industry is subject to a number of new rules from recent years, more ozone could be taken out by requiring producers to recapture pollutants during so-called "blowdown" events where wellheads are cleared of methane and other residue, the RAQC report said.
The industry should also be required to overhaul "antiquated" pneumatic equipment that vents pollutants to the atmosphere from well sites and pipeline gathering sites. Those emissions can be recaptured, RAQC says.
Another recommendation previously pushed by the EPA and which should be revisited by Colorado officials includes cutting "indirect sources" of emissions, such as vehicle traffic centered on growing warehouse operations, distribution centers and large entertainment or sports venues.
Smoke from wildfires in Colorado and elsewhere in the West has also made the state problem worse in recent summers, Sabados said, but the monitors show that on most of the bad smoke days, ozone created by other controllable sources would still have put readings above the 70 or 75 ppb caps.
"Wildfire smoke cannot be a scapegoat explanation," the RAQC summary said.
Legislators are looking at new bills for the 2025 session to help cut ozone, and RAQC and the Air Quality Control Commission also have new potential policies and rules on their fall calendars, Sabados said.
"We thought it was important to send this out now," he said.
The violations are warnings of further crackdowns by the federal government, and of ongoing health problems in disproportionately impacted minority and lower-income communities, said Ean Tafoya, director of Colorado GreenLatinos. Tafoya is in Washington, D.C., this week, and in a meeting with Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra noted the high co-pays for asthma-fighting medicine in communities with high illness rates.
"It's very challenging for our community," Tafoya said.
A spokesperson for American Petroleum Institute-Colorado said they could not offer new comments about potential regulations, but pointed to past statements that the industry is complying with a host of new emissions control rules imposed by the Air Quality Control Commission and the Energy and Carbon Management Commission. The trade group has also argued that because of recent regulation, the energy produced from Colorado comes with fewer emissions than that produced in other states.
The RAQC's "candor" in illustrating a bad 2024 ozone season is "refreshing," said Jeremy Nichols of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, but also seems like state officials "throwing up hands and saying they just can't keep up."
"From almost day one, Governor (Jared) Polis has urged swift and aggressive action to reduce ozone yet here we are still stuck in the same mess," Nichols said. While air pollution monitors show oil and gas activity contributing to spiking ozone, the state Air Pollution Control Division keeps permitting more and more drilling sites, he said.
The most high-profile action in recent months was a ban on summer use of gas-powered lawn equipment by parks departments and other large institutions, including mowers and leaf blowers. The small engines contribute a small but significant portion of the daily summer ozone mix.
"Unless and until we see legitimately bold action to reduce ozone, including at least a pause on oil and gas permitting, then I don't think anyone living in the Denver Metro-North Front Range region can breathe easy," Nichols said.
The nine-county nonattainment area includes Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, Boulder, Adams, Broomfield, Jefferson and Weld counties, and part of Larimer County.
