Did you know that oil & gas fracking is a major cause of the ozone air pollution problem in Colorado?
What is the ozone problem?
Over 68% of Coloradans live, work, learn, and play in air that has more ozone air pollution than the safe upper limit set by the U.S. EPA to protect human health and the environment. Most of Colorado’s population resides in the Denver Metro/North Front Range “ozone nonattainment area” which includes the counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder (including most of Rocky Mountain National Park), Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Weld, and a significant part of Larimer County. The Denver Metro/North Front Range area of Colorado has not met the EPA standards for ozone pollution since a standard was first set over 20 years ago, and the EPA recently elevated the areas’s status to “severe” nonattainment.
Why does ozone matter?
Ozone pollution, commonly known as “smog,” is hazardous to our health – health experts describe it as “sandpaper on the lungs!” Inhaling ozone can cause coughing, shortness of breath, worse asthma or bronchitis symptoms, and irritation and damage to airways. Long term effects include permanent scarring and reduced lung function, accelerated aging of the lungs, diminished lung capacity, and aggravation of chronic lung diseases like asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema. While ozone affects all of us, its impacts are most severe on children, people with existing lung disease, active adults who work or exercise outdoors, and individuals with genetic predispositions.
What causes the ozone problem?
Ozone (a molecule made up of three oxygen atoms) forms from a reaction between two types of air pollution – nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – mixing together with sunlight and high temperatures. The main sources in Colorado include gas-powered vehicles (cars and trucks), power plants and industrial operations, and lawn & garden equipment, but the largest single sector in Colorado contributing to the problem is the oil & gas industry. Oil & gas operations are the number 1 contributor in Colorado to our ozone air pollution problem.
When the State sends out Ozone Action Day Alerts each summer, they ask us to drive less. While driving less should be an everyday goal, there is no requirement or request that the oil & gas industry reduce their operations during ozone alerts days. It’s time to reign in the oil & gas industry’s pollution to protect Coloradan’s lungs from ozone pollution.
Fort Collins Sustainability Group is proud to be a member of the Safe & Healthy Colorado Coalition, a broad coalition of organizations, allies, and volunteers working together to protect our land, air, water, health and climate by stopping the expansion of oil & gas fracking in Colorado while supporting a just transition to a renewable energy future.
Join us in the movement by signing the Open Letter of Support to phasing out permits for new fracking by 2030. Our health and climate can’t wait!
