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By Heidi Letwood
When I first saw ozone warning road signs in Colorado, I had no idea they had anything to do with health. Why are the signs asking me not to drive because of the ozone – I thought we wanted to save the ozone layer? And why such an ineffective campaign? Apparently, the signs are not working. The congestion doesn’t seem to be easing, and if anything, it’s getting worse.
Now I know that ozone is dangerous at ground level, that the EPA and WHO have health standards, and that the EPA is lowering our ozone levels in the Denver Metro North Front area to ‘severe’ non-attainment levels. . We’ve been violating the EPA’s ozone health standards since 2008, and none of the state’s plans to fix this problem have worked. Last year, most of the summer – 63 days – there were ozone levels dangerous to human health.
Ground-level ozone is formed by the interaction of certain “precursor” chemicals – nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds – with sunlight. Exposure to unhealthy levels can put people with lung and heart problems in the hospital or even kill them. Short-term and long-term exposure has been linked to the development of asthma in children, worsening of respiratory and heart diseases, scarring of healthy lung tissue, depression in adolescents, dementia in the elderly, low sperm counts and premature births. So why does the state ask people not to drive, other than displaying these ineffective signs? Are the symptoms really meant to protect health or just to tick a box?
The state’s actions signal fear of regulating the number one cause of ozone pollution, fracking and other oil and gas development. According to the Regional Air Quality Council, oil and gas production and distribution activities in our region are the main causes of ozone. The data shows that this industry emits more pollutants than many other sources combined, and certainly more than cars. . So why does the RAQC’s plan to deal with the ozone crisis allow “pre-measurement” emissions from oil and gas operations to increase by 11% by 2026, not decrease? Why hasn’t the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — which is expected by law to enact rules to protect against the cumulative pollution contributed by oil and gas operations — enacted any rules to reduce high-emission activities during or on high-ozone days? The state has the power to restore our ozone levels to safe levels by increasing oil and gas pollution, but it is not using that power. How many lives can be saved? How much health care costs can be avoided?
As usual, oil and gas production will continue at a rapid pace and will continue to increase in the coming years, with no legislation banning new wells or reducing activities in communities where the most polluted areas are often disproportionately affected. As much as they like to play the victim, the oil and gas companies in Colorado are still making bank — producing billions of dollars worth of oil and gas each year. The oil and gas industry has a lot of influence in the policy and regulatory space. It’s time for the state to find some courage and decide once and for all to put the health of the people ahead of the profits of oil and gas companies.
Heidi Letwood lives in Denver.
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