W
Not sure if this is Kosher posting this, if it ain't report it and have Admin pull it. Just I thought it was pretty amazing, I live south of the area and can not believe how bad it is getting.
Clip from email---------------------
From: ------ -----]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 5:20 PM
Subject: More on ozone exceedance
/Land Letter/
AIR POLLUTION: Ozone advisory issued in Wyo.'s Upper Green River Basin
Eryn Gable, special to Land Letter
2-28-08
Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality issued an ozone-related
human health warning for the first time ever yesterday in the Upper
Green River Basin, a region once renowned for its pristine air.
Environmentalists are hoping the warning serves as a red light as the
Bureau of Land Management moves forward with oil and gas permits for the
Pinedale Anticline.
DEQ warned that children, the elderly and people with respiratory
conditions should avoid strenuous or extended outdoor activities until
the advisory is lifted. The advisory is expected to be in effect until
Saturday, according to DEQ spokesman Keith Guille.
"We're not very used to having these types of levels," Guille said,
noting that it is the first time DEQ has issued an advisory for ozone in
the area.
Elevated wintertime ozone is an unusual occurrence. Typically, higher
ozone levels occur in large cities like Denver and Los Angeles in the
summer when there is plenty of sunlight to cause the photochemical
reactions in the atmosphere that lead to ozone formation.
Ozone if formed through chemical reactions of volatile organic compounds
and oxides of nitrogen in the presence of sunlight. Both of these air
pollutants are emitted from natural gas drilling and production
activities, and in smaller amounts by vehicle emissions. High levels of
ozone can cause respiratory problems, especially in children, the
elderly and people with existing respiratory conditions.
In the past week, eight-hour ozone levels at the Air Quality Division's
area monitors have reached as high as 122 parts per billion. The AQD
advises that the general public should avoid strenuous outdoor activity
when eight-hour ozone values are above 105 parts per billion.
The division considers eight-hour values below 85 ppb safe and the
current U.S. EPA standard is 80 ppb, but the federal government is
considering lowering the limit to between 70 and 75 ppb. EPA's decision
is due next month.
Ozone appears to be elevated in the basin when there are strong
temperature inversions, low winds, snow cover and bright sunlight, and
levels return to normal when any one of those conditions change, DEQ
said.
DEQ first detected moderately elevated ozone levels at its Sublette
County monitors in 2005 and 2006. Since elevated ozone concentrations
are unexpected during the winter, DEQ began a formal study to determine
the causes of theses conditions in the basin.
Since natural gas development contributes to ozone-forming pollution,
DEQ is considering limiting these emissions to reduce public exposure to
elevated ozone levels.
'A wakeup call'
Linda Baker, director of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, said
the advisory should serve as a wakeup call for the Bureau of Land
Management, which is proposing more than 21,000 additional wells in the
basin, including an additional 4,400 in the Pinedale Anticline.
"It's alarming that BLM just released its Pinedale Anticline
[supplemental environmental impact statement], which says an additional
4,400 wells would not cause exceedences of federal standards," Baker
said. "That's nine times as many wells as we've got now."
Earlier this month, EPA's Denver office criticized a BLM study on
expanded drilling in the Pinedale Anticline in part on grounds that the
plan would continue to allow air quality, including ozone problems, to
deteriorate. "The impacts are of sufficient magnitude that the proposed
action should not proceed as proposed," wrote Robbie Roberts, the EPA's
regional director (Land Letter, Feb. 21).
Roberts noted that BLM has significantly underestimated the effects of
oil and gas drilling in previous studies for the area, where industry
has already drilled close to 700 wells. Emissions of nitrogen oxide, one
of the precursors of ozone formation, was five times the threshold set
by the 2000 Pinedale Anticline record of decision.
Pollution is now affecting air quality in wilderness areas of the Wind
River Range and human health in local communities, environmentalists
said.
"Ozone levels in the Pinedale area have reached extremely significant
levels -- they're affecting human health," Bruce Pendery, an attorney
with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said in a statement. "This is no
longer an unusual thing. We have to slow down oil and gas development
until we get a handle on this."
While state and federal officials have known for years about rising
levels of ozone and other pollutants, this is the first time authorities
have issued a health warning to the Upper Green River Valley.
"It's terrible news, but issuing the advisory is a step forward," Jeremy
Nichols, director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, said in a
statement. "They've had a lot of high ozone levels there, but this is
the first time they've done anything about it."
Gable is an independent energy and environmental writer in Woodland
Park, Colo.
Land Letter Headlines --
--
-----------
Upper Green River Valley Coalition
P.O. Box 994 / Pinedale, WY 82941
307---------/ -----@uppergreen.org <mailto:-----@wyoming.com>
www.uppergreen.org
Clip from email---------------------
From: ------ -----]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 5:20 PM
Subject: More on ozone exceedance
/Land Letter/
AIR POLLUTION: Ozone advisory issued in Wyo.'s Upper Green River Basin
Eryn Gable, special to Land Letter
2-28-08
Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality issued an ozone-related
human health warning for the first time ever yesterday in the Upper
Green River Basin, a region once renowned for its pristine air.
Environmentalists are hoping the warning serves as a red light as the
Bureau of Land Management moves forward with oil and gas permits for the
Pinedale Anticline.
DEQ warned that children, the elderly and people with respiratory
conditions should avoid strenuous or extended outdoor activities until
the advisory is lifted. The advisory is expected to be in effect until
Saturday, according to DEQ spokesman Keith Guille.
"We're not very used to having these types of levels," Guille said,
noting that it is the first time DEQ has issued an advisory for ozone in
the area.
Elevated wintertime ozone is an unusual occurrence. Typically, higher
ozone levels occur in large cities like Denver and Los Angeles in the
summer when there is plenty of sunlight to cause the photochemical
reactions in the atmosphere that lead to ozone formation.
Ozone if formed through chemical reactions of volatile organic compounds
and oxides of nitrogen in the presence of sunlight. Both of these air
pollutants are emitted from natural gas drilling and production
activities, and in smaller amounts by vehicle emissions. High levels of
ozone can cause respiratory problems, especially in children, the
elderly and people with existing respiratory conditions.
In the past week, eight-hour ozone levels at the Air Quality Division's
area monitors have reached as high as 122 parts per billion. The AQD
advises that the general public should avoid strenuous outdoor activity
when eight-hour ozone values are above 105 parts per billion.
The division considers eight-hour values below 85 ppb safe and the
current U.S. EPA standard is 80 ppb, but the federal government is
considering lowering the limit to between 70 and 75 ppb. EPA's decision
is due next month.
Ozone appears to be elevated in the basin when there are strong
temperature inversions, low winds, snow cover and bright sunlight, and
levels return to normal when any one of those conditions change, DEQ
said.
DEQ first detected moderately elevated ozone levels at its Sublette
County monitors in 2005 and 2006. Since elevated ozone concentrations
are unexpected during the winter, DEQ began a formal study to determine
the causes of theses conditions in the basin.
Since natural gas development contributes to ozone-forming pollution,
DEQ is considering limiting these emissions to reduce public exposure to
elevated ozone levels.
'A wakeup call'
Linda Baker, director of the Upper Green River Valley Coalition, said
the advisory should serve as a wakeup call for the Bureau of Land
Management, which is proposing more than 21,000 additional wells in the
basin, including an additional 4,400 in the Pinedale Anticline.
"It's alarming that BLM just released its Pinedale Anticline
[supplemental environmental impact statement], which says an additional
4,400 wells would not cause exceedences of federal standards," Baker
said. "That's nine times as many wells as we've got now."
Earlier this month, EPA's Denver office criticized a BLM study on
expanded drilling in the Pinedale Anticline in part on grounds that the
plan would continue to allow air quality, including ozone problems, to
deteriorate. "The impacts are of sufficient magnitude that the proposed
action should not proceed as proposed," wrote Robbie Roberts, the EPA's
regional director (Land Letter, Feb. 21).
Roberts noted that BLM has significantly underestimated the effects of
oil and gas drilling in previous studies for the area, where industry
has already drilled close to 700 wells. Emissions of nitrogen oxide, one
of the precursors of ozone formation, was five times the threshold set
by the 2000 Pinedale Anticline record of decision.
Pollution is now affecting air quality in wilderness areas of the Wind
River Range and human health in local communities, environmentalists
said.
"Ozone levels in the Pinedale area have reached extremely significant
levels -- they're affecting human health," Bruce Pendery, an attorney
with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said in a statement. "This is no
longer an unusual thing. We have to slow down oil and gas development
until we get a handle on this."
While state and federal officials have known for years about rising
levels of ozone and other pollutants, this is the first time authorities
have issued a health warning to the Upper Green River Valley.
"It's terrible news, but issuing the advisory is a step forward," Jeremy
Nichols, director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, said in a
statement. "They've had a lot of high ozone levels there, but this is
the first time they've done anything about it."
Gable is an independent energy and environmental writer in Woodland
Park, Colo.
Land Letter Headlines --
--
-----------
Upper Green River Valley Coalition
P.O. Box 994 / Pinedale, WY 82941
307---------/ -----@uppergreen.org <mailto:-----@wyoming.com>
www.uppergreen.org
Dang, just when I think I undertand our problems I find that i have no clue. I thought we quit using CFC's because they depleted the ozone and we were about to run out of it????
