Denver Post: Smog Reduction Rules a Breath of Fresh Air

"A bit of fresh air blew into the industrial rule book recently when the state Air Quality Control Commission imposed tight new pollution standards on Colorado's booming oil and gas industry."

So the Denver Post stated today in an editorial supporting recently adopted smog reduction rules for the Denver metro area. The Posts' editorial comes as we enter the New Year of 2007 with fresh, new, and strong rules that will reduce emissions of smog forming pollution by 75%.

With new and stronger clean air rules in place, the coming year will truly be a breath of fresh air. Kudos to the Denver Post for expressing its support for clean air and healthy communities in the Denver metro area!

Rocky Mountain News on Denver's New Smog Rules

The Rocky Mountain News this week expressed its support for efforts to reduce smog forming pollution from oil and gas developments north of Denver, reasoning that it makes perfect sense to target such a large source of air pollution, especially with Denver on the brink of violating federal health standards. Hear, hear!

But it wasn't all hugs and handshakes from the Rocky Mountain News this last week. In addition to supporting strong smog reduction rules for Denver, the News voiced its disappointment with the Air Quality Control Commission's decision to continue tailpipe emissions testing in the metro area. Their reasoning? That the tailpipe testing program is antiquated and is burdensome to motorists.

Unfortunately, the Rocky Mountain News got it wrong on this point. While Denver's current tailpipe testing program may need improved, it's still the best we got. Proposals to implement new testing programs using remote sensing have thus far failed to achieve the same results.

And while emissions from tailpipes may be less than emissions from oil and gas developments north of Denver, this is no reason to simply scrap the testing program. The fact is that tailpipe emissions do contribute to unhealthy air. While tailpipe testing may be inconvenient, air pollution is a lot more inconvenient. Ask any child with asthma.

But the fact of the matter is that the state of Colorado committed to maintaining its tailpipe testing program to ensure that Denver's air quality doesn't slide back into an unhealthy state. If Colorado scrapped tailpipe testing, it would be rejecting its commitment to clean air for Denver citizens.

Denver's tailpipe testing program may need to be replaced. But let's at least make sure we replace it with something that continues to protect clean air and our health from tailpipes.

Recent Blog Posts on Smog Reductions

Coloradolib recently posted on Denver's new and better smog reduction rule and the challenges ahead in keeping smog reductions on track in the metro area.

Golden Voices also reports that the new smog reductions will greatly benefit clean air and the health of Golden citizens. Last summer, monitors in Golden registered unhealthy levels of ozone pollution over five days. While health standards are set at 80 parts per billion, ozone levels soared to a high of 94 parts per billion last summer in Golden.

Congratulations Denver, You Have Strong Smog Reductions!

At the close of an unprecedented Sunday hearing, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted yesterday to reject a state- industry compromise and adopt stronger smog reductions for the Denver metro area. The new rule requires the oil and gas industry to reduce emissions of smog forming pollution from over 5,000 condensate tanks north of Denver by 75%, rather than 73.3% as originally proposed.

Why did the Air Quality Control Commission adopt stronger smog reductions? Simple. Because the oil and gas industry has so far failed to meet current requirements that require reductions in smog forming pollution from condensate tanks. While required to reduce daily emissions by 47.5%, many companies have failed to consistently meet this requirement. For example, this last summer, only 43% of the oil and gas companies operating north of Denver met the required 47.5% reduction in smog forming pollution on a daily basis. That's a compliance rate of less than 50%!

Smog is a serious health threat in the Denver metro area. This last summer, smog levels exceeded federal health standards 66 times. That's 66 times last summer that children, seniors, and others from Greeley on south to Littleton were warned that the air they were breathing was unhealthy. The fact that the oil and gas industry utterly failed to meet required reductions in smog forming pollution only added to last summer's excessive ozone pollution.

Recognizing this, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission adopted a rule that requires additional reductions in smog forming pollution in order to account for the likelihood that the oil and gas industry will not full comply with the required reductions. In essence, the 75% reduction provides a safety cushion.

The new rule also amounts to an over 50% increase in pollution reductions. This is an important step forward for clean air and community health in the Denver metro area. Although the oil and gas industry has called the reductions bittersweet, we'd prefer to call them a breath of fresh air.

Congratulations Denver! Hopefully we will all breathe a bit easier in 2007 and beyond!

Commission Makes Right Move on Emission Testing

Last Thursday, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted to reject a proposal that would have exempted more cars from tailpipe testing. The proposal, which has been driven by politics and would actually worsen ozone pollution in the Denver metro area, would have allowed new cars to avoid tailpipe testing for up to eight years. Thankfully it was rejected.

At the same time, the Air Quality Control Commision moved forward with a proposal to implement more remote testing of tailpipes and to phase out traditional emission testing. Remote sensing, which tests vehicle emissions as they drive by a testing van, came under fire earlier this week by a legislative audit. Despite the audit, the Commission charged the Air Pollution Control Divsion with devising a credible and effective remote sensing program to test tailpipe emissions by the end of 2007.

Current tailpipe testing has been called burdensome, inconvenient, inaccurate, and too costly. This may very well be the case. But right now, it's clearly the most effective means of controlling ozone forming pollution from vehicles. Sure, emission testing can and should be improved, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Vehicle emissions are a major source of ozone forming emissions
and contribute to Denver's foul brown cloud.

With Denver on the verge of violating federal health standards for ozone, the state needs to move carefully to implement new emission tsting programs, as an article in today's Rocky Mountain News reports. Perhaps remote sensing can be improved to overcome the downfalls reported by the recent legislative audit. Perhaps not. The state needs to look hard before it leaps on this one, we can ill-afford to suffer the consequences of unhealthy air pollution.

Tailpipe Testing Often Wrong

A newly released legislative audit reports that the use of remote sensing to reduce air pollution from tailpipes in the Denver metro area is failing, threatening clean air and our health.

An article in today's Denver Post reports that, "auditors found that many cars that were "clean-screened" - 21 percent of the vehicles they surveyed - failed the traditional emission test. And more than half of the vehicles that failed the mobile test passed the screening when the driver went to a traditional facility." The results show that the use of remote sensing is failing to clean our air and keep our communities healthy.

Even more disturbing though is that the Colorado legislature has mandated that remote sensing be the primary method of testing tailpipes in Denver. In other words, the legislature has mandated ineffective tailpipe testing.

Unfortunately, this flawed mandate is now driving the Air Quality Control Commission to consider changes to Denver's tailpipe testing this Thursday. Despite the recent audit, the Commission is likely to approve more extensive use of remote sensing, raising serious questions over the fate of Denver's air quality.

The overall concern through all this is that current tailpipe testing is inconvenient and costly to motorists. To be honest, the inconvenience of testing tailpipes is nothing compared to the inconvenience of smoggy skies and kids with asthma. With Denver on the verge of violating federal health standards for ozone, the last thing we need is an ineffective tailpipe testing program.

Smoke Gets in our Eyes: Guest Post by Terry Tamminen

Let us say Bob’s BBQ opens next to your home. Bob refuses to do anything to stop the greasy soot and the smell of burning ribs that pour into your windows each night, because he has permits and operates lawfully. Technically he may be right, but if you take him to court there’s a good chance he will be found guilty of creating a nuisance and ordered to direct his chimney smoke away from your windows so you can resume the normal use and enjoyment of your home. If Bob’s smoke was affecting your property value and health, your case would be even stronger.

That’s why the state of California is suing auto manufacturers on behalf of the public, seeking compensation for global warming pollution that is known to aggravate heat waves, wildfires and coastal flooding. Whether it is BBQ soot or tailpipe emissions, federal law guarantees the opportunity to seek redress against public nuisances — acts or circumstances that interfere with our right to use or enjoy our surroundings or community. Take, for example, that in February 2006, a jury in Rhode Island, decided that three paint companies were guilty of creating a “public nuisance” because of lead in their products that, although sold when lead paint was legal, continued to poison the state’s children.

In North Carolina, the state’s attorney general sued 11 power plants in early 2006 for creating a “public nuisance” that causes respiratory illness, kills trees and fouls waterways. He asked the court to mandate pollution control-devices on the coal-fired plants. Sounds a lot like Bob’s BBQ, eh?

When California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued automakers this September for contributing to global warming, he followed a well-worn path that leads to fairer and more equitable use of our commonwealth, in this case, our state treasury. His suit seeks to compensate taxpayers for some of the costs of dealing with climate change and comes only after trying other means to abate the threat posed by vehicle emissions. California has long recognized the threats posed by global warming, which range from sea-level rise to deadly heat waves. Last year, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego identified climate change as a leading driver of larger wildfires. And in 2002, California enacted legislation that would require a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from cars sold in the state. But automakers have sued in court to overturn that law, wanting instead to continue an ongoing nuisance that interferes with the public’s ability to use and enjoy its surroundings and community.

The law is like a polite request to Bob to clean up his BBQ. If Bob decided to ignore that request, you might turn to the courts. In the case of California, the state is arguably obliged to use the courts to terminate the nuisance created by the automakers who refuse to address pollution.

Some have questioned Lockyer’s motives, but that was to be expected. Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore was also skewered when he brought the first case against tobacco companies for the harms they inflicted on the public and the state treasury. After hundreds of billions of dollars in settlements with every state in the union, no one doubts Moore’s tactics now.

The comparison of tobacco and auto companies is fitting, because the toxins that emanate from your tailpipe are remarkably similar to tobacco smoke. In effect, this makes all of us victims of secondhand smoke and causes tens of thousands of illnesses and deaths each year akin to those common in smokers. Moreover, automakers have taken a page from the tobacco company playbook, lying to the public and government regulators for decades about the dangers of their products, and the cleaner and safer models that they could have introduced to the marketplace long ago.

California and 11 other states have convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to look into whether the federal government must regulate the amount of greenhouse gases that comes from vehicles. Hearings before the court begin today.

And as other states calculate the true cost of our oil addiction and discover the billions of taxpayer dollars that go up in smoke for health care, pollution cleanup and responding to climate change, their attorneys general may follow California’s lead and tackle the problem in the same way. That is, of course, unless Bob comes to his senses and fixes the BBQ joint before the jury makes him do it.

Terry Tamminen is the author of Lives Per Gallon, an unblinking assessment of the true price of petroleum and a prescription for change.

Greeley Tribune Supports Smog Reductions

The Greeley Tribune voiced its support for a proposed rule that would reduce smog forming pollution from oil and gas developments in the Denver metro area. The Tribune states the case loud and clear:

Ground ozone, quite frankly, is dangerous, an irritant that makes it harder to breathe on bad days, especially for those with respiratory problems, small children or the elderly. Let's face it: Those groups already have a tough time, so we don't need to add something to their air to make it harder, do we?

Kudos to the Greeley Tribune for joining numerous other local governments, citizens, and other opinion leaders in asking the state of Colorado to adopt strong smog reduction rules for the Denver metro area.

Warning on Ozone

The Denver Post today warned that the state of Colorado needs to move fast to reduce ozone pollution in the metro area to avoid violating federal health standards.

But move fast on what?

The Air Pollution Control Division has taken a step backward and is now proposing that the Air Quality Control Commission adopt a weaker rule. Previously, the Division wanted to reduce smog forming emissions from condensate tanks that release 11 tons/year or more. The Division now wants to let companies pick and choose which tanks they control, so long as they reduce overall emissions by 73.3%. This means that air pollution from some tanks that release 11 tons/year or more will be completely uncontrolled.

What's more, industry says the 73.3% reduction roughly amounts to reducing air pollution from all condensate tanks that emit 13-14 tons/year or more, much weaker than the original 11 ton/year threshold. To achieve the same reductions as the 11 ton/year control threshold, an overall 77% or higher reduction is needed, not 73.3%.

So what will the Commission act on? If it's a weaker rule, then the Commission risks dragging the Denver area into violation of federal health standards for ozone. While the EPA has turned the other way for the time being, citizens haven't. If strong rules are not adopted, citizens will act to hold the state of Colorado accountable to clean air standards.

Too Many Polluters, Too Few Inspectors, Too Much Smog

A new report by the Center for American Progress and Center for Progressive Reform shows that a lack of funding for inspections and enforcement is putting millions of people are at risk from smog pollution.

In the Denver metro area, state regulators are constantly bemoaning the fact that they have inadequate resource to enforce clean air rules meant to reduce smog pollution. It's certainly a daunting task. There are over 5,000 condensate tanks in the Denver metro area, all of which spew out smog forming volatile organic compounds. The state has required reductions in smog forming pollution from these tanks, but it lacks the resources to keep track of every tank to make sure industry is following the rules. The result: Denver now suffers from exceptionally unhealty smog pollution and stands on the verge of violating federal health standards.

But the new report leaves one question unanswered: Why is industry refusing to comply with clean air laws in the first place? Really, we should not have to enforce clean air laws, nor inspect facilities to make sure industry is protecting clean air and peoples' health. Sadly, this is the reality. The state of Colorado needs more resources to enforce clean air laws especially at oil and gas developments, but accountability really lies with industry.