Will EPA Keep us Safe from Smog?

This is it, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to formally announce its proposed new ozone standard early tomorrow . Reports indicate the agency is going to propose a standard that limits ozone to no more than 70-75 parts per billion over an eight hour period.

The agency was under court order to propose a new standard today, but proposing a new standard and releasing it to the public must be two different things.

In any event, if the EPA proposes a standard that's above 70 parts per billion, that will be around 12% stronger than the current standard of 80 parts per billion. However, it will be about 20% weaker than the 60 parts per billion standard that hundreds of scientists, doctors, and the EPA's own clean air advisers have recommended.

So is the EPA playing politics with our health? Well, representatives of various polluters, including the chemical industry, electric utilities, and the auto industry met with the White House on June 11 and June 12 to discuss the new ozone standards. As far as we're aware, no public health group has received such an audience. Ozone forms when pollution from smokestacks, tailpipes, and oil and gas wells react with sunlight, so industry will be forced to make significant pollution cuts.

But what's really at stake here? Well, this is about keeping us safe. When doctors say that ozone pollution needs to be limited to no more than 60 parts per billion over an eight hour period, that's advice that we take pretty seriously. And this advice sheds light on what seems to us a serious health crisis here in the Rocky Mountain region.

If the ozone standard was dropped to 60 parts per billion, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming would be dealing with numerous "dirty air" areas. What this means is that these states would be forced to significantly cut pollution, in some areas for the first time ever. Here's a brief summary of the situation if ozone standards were dropped to 60 parts per billion:

• Colorado: Colorado Springs, Mesa Verde National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park would all be in violation of the standard.
• New Mexico: Albuquerque and all of Bernalillo County, Dona Ana County, Carlsbad and Eddy County, Hobbs and Lea County, Sandoval County, and all of San Juan County.
• Utah: Box Elder County, Logan, Bountiful, Salt Lake City, Canyonlands National Park, Provo, Highland, Zion National Park, and Ogden would all be in violation of the standard.
• Wyoming: Campbell County and Yellowstone National Park would be in violation. Sublette County would likely be in violation after 2007.

Even if the standard was 70 parts per billion, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and, after 2007, even Wyoming will be dealing with "dirty air" areas. Of the bunch, only Colorado has ever violated the current standard, and that has been in the Denver metro area.

Importantly, any new ozone standard should be a wake up call for the west. Our air quality needs to be improved, dramatically, to keep rural and urban communities alike safe from pollution. This will be a paradigm shift for the west, which has long thought of its air as pure and clean.

It may be that our air in the west is dirtier than we ever thought. Whatever the EPA ultimately decides, this should be a strong motivation for states like Colorado to get moving to reduce ozone and keep us all safe and healthy.