What It All Means-Part I

We don't know all the clean air measures that will ultimately be adopted to reduce harmful ozone in the Denver metro area, but we do know for certain what some of these measures will be.

If an area violates ambient air quality standards for ozone, like Denver did on July 20th, the federal Clean Air Act requires states to develop a plan to bring our air quality back down to healthy levels. That plan has to include at least two important measures:

1. First, our plan has to require that new or modified sources of air pollution in the Denver metro area meet what's called the "Lowest Achievable Emission Rate." What this means is that if any old factories decide they want to change something or if someone wants to put a new factory in the Denver metro area, they have to meet the most stringent emission limits possible.
2. And second, our plan will extend vehicle tailpipe testing north to Larimer and Weld Counties. Amazingly, tailpipe testing was discontinued in Larimer and Weld Counties on January 1st of this year.

What else will our plan include? We'll bring more on that in another post.

Finally, here's a quick update on ozone. So far this year, the state has issued 42 ozone health alerts. That's the same number that were issued in 2003, which was our worst ozone year in recent times. So far this August, only 2 alerts have been issued, meaning things have gotten better...for the time being.