The Regional Air Quality Council, or RACQ, has approved a plan to reduce ozone air pollution across nine counties in the Denver metro area. The council passed it with a 20 to one vote Friday afternoon following lengthy public comment for and against.
Referred to as the Ozone State Implementation Plan, or SIP, the measure comes as the metro area is set to receive a worse grade from the Environmental Protection Agency for consistently failing to meet ozone health standards.
(source: CBS)
Many local municipal representatives, residents, and environmentalists who spoke at Friday's meeting said the plan doesn't go far enough to reduce harmful air pollution, and should take more innovative steps. Some said the RACQ's previous SIPs have not made enough strides to alleviate pollution, so this one should be more aggressive.
Some others who spoke in favor of the SIP said ozone pollution is coming mostly from other states, and the plan is sufficient.
As CBS Colorado reported earlier this week, the plan was designed through careful consideration of local air quality monitoring data and climate modeling, according to officials with the RACQ.
Watch CBS Colorado's August 1 report on the issue below:
The plan will now go to the state's Air Quality Control Commission for public comment and discussion this fall. The AQCC will vote on the measure in December, where it will then be presented to the EPA for final approval.
The RACQ released the following statement following Friday's vote:
The SIP analyzes data from ozone sensors across the front range, stationary and mobile ozone precursor sources, population growth, and other factors to create a plan that will bring Colorado's front range into compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ozone standards. The EPA has two standards, first enacted in 2008 and 2015 with the next deadlines in 2027 and 2024, respectively.
The plan projects full compliance with the 2008 75 parts per billion standard by the 2027 deadline and brings the region closer to the 2015 70 parts per billion standard by the 2024 deadline.
"Colorado has made tremendous progress on ozone in the last few years," said Mike Silverstein, Executive Director of the RAQC. "In 2020, only 12% of sensors showed compliance. This year, 56% are currently showing compliance three-quarters of the way through ozone season. This plan continues best practices of the last few years to bring ozone levels down across the front range."
The RAQC board also voted to forward to the Air Quality Control Commission a letter from the Polis administration requesting a cost-benefit analysis of reformulated gas and potentially a waiver from the EPA from the reformulated gas (RFG) requirement under the federal Clean Air Act. RFG is required when a region is deemed "Severe." The EPA is expected to designate the 9-county nonattainment area Severe in the near future after failing to meet the 2021 deadline for the 2008 standard.
"This SIP projects attainment of the 2008 standard by 2027 with or without reformulated gas," said Will Toor, who serves on the RAQC board. "If Colorado can come into compliance without RFG by utilizing other strategies, we can reduce ozone levels without potentially raising gas prices for Coloradans. It's appropriate for the EPA to allow a cost-benefit analysis of this decades old rule."
The 2022 SIP shows ozone improvements made from existing strategies, several of which have phased implementation times so benefits are currently taking effect and will continue to increase over time. A few of the prominent current strategies include:
• Major stationary source permitting reducing allowed tonnage of VOCs and NOx (ozone precursors) from 50 tons/year to 25 tons/year.
• A change in requirements on consumer products such as paints, varnishes, and degreasers that emit ozone precursors to require fewer ozone precursor emissions.
• Greenhouse gas standards through Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) for transportation, housing, and other regional planning that reduces vehicles miles traveled and otherwise reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Other strategies currently in implementation include:
• Electric vehicle standards that reduce the number of gas-powered on-road vehicles in the region
• Electrification programs such as the RAQC's Mow Down Pollution program that help businesses, municipalities, and the general public replace gas-powered small engine devices with electric options.
Kati Weis is a Murrow award-winning reporter for CBS News based in New Orleans, covering the Southeast. She previously worked as an investigative reporter at CBS News Colorado in their Denver newsroom.
