|
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Ozone Reduction Efforts Earn Special Recognition from
U.S. EPA
CONTACT: Christopher Dann,
Public Information Officer
(303) 692-3281 – Office
DENVER – Staff at the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division earned special recognition
Wednesday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its
innovative approach to curbing ground-level ozone pollution.
Representatives from the EPA’s Region VIII offices in
Denver selected several Air Pollution Control Division staff members to
receive Environmental Achievement Awards “for outstanding work to achieve
significant, early reduction of ozone emissions in the Denver-metropolitan
and northern Front Range area.” The awards were presented at Wednesday’s
regular meeting of the Colorado Board of Health in Denver.
Honorees included division director Margie Perkins;
program managers Sheila Burns, David Ouimette, Michael Silverstein and
Shirleen Tucker; and environmental protection specialists Rick Barrett,
Kevin Briggs, Roy Doyle, Kim Livo, Barbara MacRae, Patrick Reddy and Dale
Wells.
Also recognized for their efforts were Douglas Lempke,
technical secretary for the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission; Frank
Johnson, an assistant attorney general for the Colorado Attorney General’s
Office, and; Ken Lloyd, executive director, and Gerald Dilley, air quality
engineer, of the Denver area’s Regional Air Quality Council.
“I am pleased that EPA has chosen to recognize the efforts
of our ozone team,” said Douglas H. Benevento, executive director of the
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “The team’s
commitment to improving and protecting air quality for all Colorado
residents is something I see every day. The awards are well-deserved.”
Benevento continued: “I also appreciate the spirit of
collaboration with which our colleagues at the Attorney General’s Office,
the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, the Regional Air Quality
Council and the EPA regional offices in Denver approached this important
project. We couldn’t have done it without them and I commend them all.
Colorado is healthier today because of them.”
The group worked for more than a year on the Early Action
Compact for Ozone, a cutting edge agreement with the EPA that laid out how
Colorado would address an emerging problem with ground-level ozone
pollution along the state’s Front Range.
Through the agreement, signed in late 2002, a detailed a
set of pollution controls were developed, including a planned 47 percent
reduction in “flash” emissions from oil and gas industry operations. The
reductions, proposed by Colorado Governor Bill Owens and approved by both
the Regional Air Quality Council and the Colorado Air Quality Control
Commission, passed the Colorado Legislature unanimously during the 2004
session.
The agreement also set forth a schedule for the
development of technical information and the adoption and implementation
of necessary control measures by 2005. The department used advanced
computer modeling to show that the area can comply with the standard by
2008 and maintain compliance well beyond that date.
Finally, the EPA agreed to defer the effective date of a
nonattainment designation for the Denver-metropolitan area if the area
fell out of compliance with the eight-hour National Ambient Air Quality
Standard for ground-level ozone. The area did fall out of compliance with
the standard last summer as a result of high ground-level ozone readings.
However, all readings thus far this summer have been in compliance.
With no agreement, the area would have been designated as
a nonattainment area under provisions of the federal Clean Air Act, and
the EPA would have required Colorado to submit a state implementation plan
for federal approval. That plan would have included specific, stringent
measures to bring the area into compliance by 2012.
As a result of the Early Action Compact for Ozone,
Colorado committed to bring the area into compliance five years earlier
than under the typical regulatory process.
There are two federal, health-based standards for ground
level ozone. The older, one-hour standard is .120 parts per million.
Compliance with the one-hour standard is achieved if an area averages not
more than one day per year with a reading at or above 125 ppb during any
consecutive three-year period.
The Denver-metropolitan area has been in compliance with
the one hour standard for more than a decade and was redesignated as an
attainment area in 2001.
The newer, eight-hour standard, promulgated in 1997, is
.080 parts per million. Compliance with the eight-hour standard is based
on the average of the fourth highest reading at a given monitor each year
for a consecutive three-year period. Currently, the Denver-metropolitan
area is out of compliance with that standard.
However, because of the Early Action Compact for Ozone,
the area has retained its attainment status and is working to achieve full
compliance by 2008.
Ozone is a secondary pollutant that is formed in the lower
atmosphere when chemicals like volatile organic compounds and nitrogen
oxides react in the presence of intense sunlight.
Ozone is a lung irritant that can cause breathing problems
and respiratory infections in the elderly, the young and those with
pre-existing ailments. Even persons considered healthy may experience
breathing problems, chest pain and other symptoms when exposed to higher
ozone concentrations.
Return to Top
|
