Air Pollution Crisis Could Have Been Prevented

Dangerous air pollution has left people in the Denver metro region gasping for the last five days and Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, a Denver-based clean air group, is calling on the state to finally adopt safeguards to keep fine particle pollution in check.

Fine particle pollution is microscopic, less than 2.5 microns in diameter, or 1/30th the width of a human hair. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fine particle pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths every year. Recent studies have linked fine particle pollution to heart disease, lung disease, and poor lung function among children.

Despite the health threats, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division has yet to adopt federally required safeguards to keep fine particle pollution in check. The result: for the last five days, people in the Denver metro region have suffered the worst fine particle pollution ever recorded.

Beginning last Wednesday, fine particle pollution levels have violated federal health standards at Chatfield Reservoir, downtown Denver, National Jewish Hospital, and Boulder. Federal health standards limit fine particle pollution to no more than 35 micrograms per cubic meter, based on hourly measurements averaged over a 24-hour period. Pollution levels reached 74 micrograms per cubic meter in downtown Denver last Friday.

24-hour fine particle pollution readings for the last five days, in micrograms/cubic meter. Health standard violations are shaded red.

Monitor Location	Feb. 7	Feb. 8	Feb. 9	Feb. 10	Feb. 11
Downtown Denver (2105 Broadway)	43	70	74	64	67
Chatfield Reservoir	33	60	57	41	35
National Jewish (14th and Albion)	33	62	64	46	46
Boulder (2120 Marine St.)	26	34	24	39	41

The burning of fossil fuels is the primary source of fine particle pollution in the Denver metro region. Smokestacks and tailpipes not only release microscopic soot, but gases that condense into acidic droplets.

Health standards for soot pollution were originally established in 1997 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At that time, pollution was limited to no more than 65 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period. Last fall, health standards were tightened and pollution is now limited to no more than 35 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period. Pollution has been so bad during the last five days, that even the old health standard of 65 was violated.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division was required to adopt safeguards to ensure that fine particle pollution levels do not exceed health standards by 2000. Since that time, no safeguards have been adopted. And now that fine particle pollution standards have been tightened, the lack of safeguards has left the Denver metro region more vulnerable than ever.

Currently, Colorado regulations do not limit fine particle pollution from any source of air pollution. Coal burning power plants in the metro region, for example, are not required to limit their fine particle pollution. The state also has yet to require vehicles, including diesel trucks and machinery, to limit fine particle pollution.

The state of colorado must move quickly to adopt safeguards to keep fine particle pollution in check. We cannot afford to have one more day, let alone five, of such unhealthy air pollution.