Highest Ozone Reading So Far and Elusive VOC Emissions

On June 19, the air monitor at Rocky Flats measured an 8-hour ozone reading of 94 parts per billion. This is the highest ozone level meausred in the Denver metro area so far this year. It's also 14 parts per billion higher than the level considered "safe" for people, which is 80 parts per billion. Here's the read out:

Pollutant	Conc.	Station	Hour	Date
O3	94	RFN	18	2006-06-19

An article today in the Rocky Mountain News also sheds more light on fugitive volatile organic compound, or VOC, emissions, which are released from leaky valves, tank hatches, and pipes at oil and gas facilities. A new technology that uses infrared imaging shows that many of these facilities are spewing out massive amounts of undetected VOCs. Of course, anyone with half a sense of smell who happens to be near one of these facilities could tell you this is the case. If it was water leaking from the pipes at some of these facilities, they'd be filling reservoirs. There's a link to a video showing a condensate tank bellowing out VOCs on the News' website, but I've been having trouble getting it to play. Let me know if you can't get it working, either.