In Dallas, the state has paid to replace aging diesel school buses, and in Philadelphia they made paint dry more quickly to cut the pollutants that create ozone.
In Knoxville, Tenn., there are free bus rides on ozone-alert days and in California the formula for deodorants has been changed to make them less aromatic.
None of those more revolutionary ways to trim ozone are coming to Colorado’s Front Range — yet.
Still, local residents are likely to see everything from increased pollution controls on oil wells to reformulated gasoline and new emissions inspections in some areas as Colorado struggles to meet federal ozone standards.
Last November, Denver joined Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco and about 55 other metropolitan areas with ozone levels above the health standard.
“While we talk about removing tons of pollutants or lowering levels of ozone in parts per million, what we are really talking about is quality of life,” said Andrew Spielman, chairman of the Regional Air Quality Council.
“It is about being able to take a jog in the late afternoon and not worry whether it hurts your health,” Spielman said.
Ozone — a principal ingredient in smog — is created when volatile organic chemicals and nitrogen oxides interact with heat and sunlight.
The chemicals come from sources as varied as asphalt paving, dry cleaners, restaurant char-broilers, bakeries, laundry detergents and cement kilns.
Medical studies have shown the colorless, corrosive gas impairs breathing even in healthy people and that even low levels increase the risk of death. The elderly, infants and people with respiratory problems are most at risk.
So this past week the air quality council, which is creating an ozone-reduction plan for an eight-county area, took some key steps.
“The goal is to find the most cost-effective ways to cut pollution,” said Mike Silverstein, deputy director of the state’s Air Pollution Control Division, who advises the council.
Targeting oil and gas fields
The biggest chunk of pollution cuts will come from the oil and gas fields of Weld County, where operators will be required to capture 98 percent of the leaks and low-level emissions escaping from tanks and valves — up from the current 95 percent requirement.
The council estimates this will remove as much as 82 tons a day of volatile organic compounds from the air.
EnCana USA, one of the largest operators in the fields, estimates it is already voluntarily spending $1.5 million on pollution controls this year.
“EnCana will be able to meet the 98 percent control efficiency,” said EnCana air-quality specialist Scott Mason.
Starting in May, vehicle-emissions inspections in Denver were tightened so the number of cars failing will rise to about 7 percent from 3 percent.
As a result, 31,000 additional cars from the 1982 model year on will need repairs to improve their emissions, according to state estimates.
That will remove another ton of volatile organics a day and 3 tons a day of nitrogen oxides.
A vehicle-emissions inspection program will likely be reinstituted in the Fort Collins area to remove an additional ton of volatile organic compounds and a ton of nitrogen oxides a day.
What goes into every gas tank may also change by making gas less gassy.
Gasoline volatility is measured in pounds per square inch by a technique called “Reid Vapor Pressure,” or rvp. In January, gasoline in Denver under state specifications has an rvp of 15.
But during the summer — the prime ozone season — Denver gas has an rvp of 7.8. That gasoline will now be used in the northern Front Range, cutting three tons of volatile organic pollutants a day.
All these steps — plus a few others such as requiring new controls on some small industrial sources and cracking down on antique collector licenses plates used by some motorists to get out of auto inspections — will bring the Denver area back into compliance, the council’s Spielman said.
Lower standards, higher bar
Denver exceeded the average 84 parts per billion standard by only 1 part per billion last year.
The EPA, however, lowered the standard in March to 75 parts per billion and this year monitors from Fort Collins to Chatfield State Park have exceeded that standard.
The region won’t have to meet the new standard for five years, but at Gov. Bill Ritter’s request, the air council is already looking at other new set of controls including:
• Emission controls for nitrogen oxides on big sources such as power plants and cement kilns.
• Adopting California standards for paints and consumer products. Eleven states have adopted the California standards, although Texas and Arizona have limited it to just windshield wiper fluid.
• Dropping gasoline rvp in the summer to to 7.0 and banning the use of ethanol, which adds about a pound per inch to the rvp.
Removing ingredients to cut the rvp would require added expense and could reduce the quantity of gasoline produced by 10 percent to 15 percent, said Nancy Thonen, an executive with the Suncor Energy refinery in Denver.
“We can make that, but there are costs,” Thonen said. Those costs would be seen in new equipment and supplies at the refinery and depending on market conditions cost pennies at the pump.
Still, dozens of other cities have already tweaked and planned for ozone.
“The change will be seamless,” said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Associate of Clean Air Agencies. “People in Denver probably won’t notice the differences, even the costs — for a gallon of gas or paint — which tend to be small.”
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, the story gave the wrong measurement for the federal ozone standard. Denver exceeded the old standard of an average of 84 parts per billion last year. This year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency lowered that standard to 75 parts per billion.
