Dispatch from the Four Corners

This was just forwarded to us by a friend in Farmington, New Mexico. According to the Farmington Daily Times:

The New Mexico Department of Health released a study Thursday that shows San Juan County's ground ozone levels are comparable to urban areas and are high for the Southwest.

Because of the rise in ground-level ozone, asthma-related hospital visits were reported to increase in northwestern New Mexico.

The news is not a shock to us. While northwestern New Mexico has not violated current federal health standards for ozone, the EPA has all but said that our current health standards fail to protect public health.

Earlier this year, the agency announced it wanted to strengthen health standards. Ozone is now limited to no more than 80 parts per billion over an eight hour period, but the EPA wants to lower the standard to between 70 and 75 parts per billion. What's more, the EPA's clean air science advisers have urged the agency to adopt a standard as low as 60 parts per billion. By all scientific measures, anytime ground-level ozone rises to 60 parts per billion or more, there's a serious health risk that follows.

And according to the Farmington Daily Times, the daily maximum eight hour ozone concentration in Farmington is 63 parts per billion, meaning that ozone is consistently at unhealthy levels in the region.

As if this wasn't bad enough, a new coal burning power plant is being proposed in the region. The Desert Rock power plant would spew even more ozone forming pollution into the air of Farmington, basically muddying already muddy waters. Learn more about Desert Rock here.

Farmington needs to be put on the path to clean air. No more coal burning, no Desert Rock.