Southwest Colorado Will Violate Ozone Standards

An article in today's Durango Herald drives home what many of us have known for several months now. Under the EPA's proposal to strengthen federal health standards for ozone in our air, southwestern Colorado will violate.

While ozone up high protects us from ultraviolet radiation, down low, it corrodes our lungs, putting children, seniors, those with asthma and other respiratory conditions, and even active adults at risk.

Current health standards limit ozone to no more than 80 parts per billion over an eight hour period, but health scientists say that ozone should be limited to no more than 60 parts per billion. The EPA has proposed a new standard of between 70 and 75 parts per billion, not quite strong enough to keep us all healthy.

While regulators and industry are scrambling to determine what the EPA's new standard will mean for southwestern Colorado, we need to remember what this means for southwestern Colorado now.

Under the EPA's proposed standard, southwestern Colorado would violate health standards. And, if the standard was as low as 60 parts per billion, southwestern Colorado would violate the health standards even worse.

Forget the EPA's regulations, the real news here is that everyone in southwestern Colorado is breathing unhealthy levels of ozone. A new standard may not be in place yet, but the science is in and that needs to count for something.

The speed limit may not have changed yet, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't slow down for safety.