Excess Emissions

If you've ever been pulled over for speeding, have you ever tried to argue that you weren't actually "violating" the speed limit, just speeding "excessively"? If you have, you've probably found that the cop didn't care whether you called it excess speed or a violation of the speed limit. The simple fact of the matter was you were speeding.

Things are different if you're a polluter, though. Even if you violate air pollution limits in your permit, it's not necessarily a "violation."

It could just be "excess emissions." Even if it's a "violation." If this sounds absurd, it's because it is.

Just look at the "excess emissions" reported by Colorado polluters in 2006. In the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, and 4th quarters, there were a total of 4,278 hours of "excess emissions." Basically, polluters violated their pollution limits for almost half of the entire year.

That's not all. In the 4th quarter of 2006, there were over 2,500 hours of "excess emissions" reported, most by the Holcim cement plant near Florence, Colorado. The cement plant violated limits on toxic, volatile organic compound pollution for 2,166 hours, or 99.5% of the time.

Other major "excess emission" polluters from 2006 include:

• The Suncor oil refinery in Denver, which reported 154 hours-or over 6 days-of sulfur dioxide pollution violations in the 2nd quarter of 2006;
• Xcel's Arapahoe power plant in south Denver, which reported 80 hours of carbon monoxide pollution violations in the 3rd quarter of 2006;
• The Rocky Mountain steel mill in Pueblo, which reported 168 hours of carbon monoxide violations in the 2nd quarter and 168 hours of nitrogen oxide pollution violations in the 3rd quarter.

Despite all these violations, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division doesn't seem to have taken any enforcement action to hold these polluters accountable to clean air and public health.

30 miles per hour means 30 miles per hour for you and I. But for polluters in Colorado, 30 miles per hour apparently means 30 miles per hour...part of the time.