The gray haze blurring mountain views along Colorado’s Front Range day after day this summer signaled ozone pollution spiking to dangerous levels — up to 48% higher than the federal health limit — and some of the deadliest air in decades.

The average ozone pollution has been increasing over the past two years, according to state data reviewed by The Denver Post, cutting into improvements made since 1980.

This year, average ozone levels at all 16 of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s air-quality measuring stations along the Front Range topped 72 parts per billion, above the health limit of 70 ppb. In 2019, only five of the stations showed ozone averages above the limit.

On Tuesday, ozone spiked to 104 ppb at Chatfield State Park southwest of Denver. Other spikes this week reached 103 ppb at Boulder Reservoir and 101 ppb in Golden. Beyond cities, ozone levels in Rocky Mountain National Park hit 76 ppb on July 12.

The backslide means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency likely will downgrade Colorado’s air quality violator status later this year from “serious” to “severe.” That will bring tougher restrictions on industry and car travel, and Colorado officials told the Post gas will have to be re-blended into a cleaner-burning mix. The EPA estimates it will add a few cents per gallon to prices at gas pumps.

For a record 19 days in a row (through midnight Friday), CDPHE officials have issued high ozone “action day” alerts, warning of unhealthy conditions and urging residents to drive less, and refuel or mow after 5 p.m., which can help contain ozone.

Meanwhile this week, Colorado leaders withdrew a proposal to require companies with more than 100 workers to reduce vehicle travel after the Colorado Chamber of Commerce objected. And a July 20 EPA deadline passed for Colorado to comply with the 2008 federal limit of 75 ppb, let alone the current 70 ppb limit that’s been in place since 2015.

“Relatively dangerous” to go outside

Ozone forms when sunlight bakes chemical gases — volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides. The main sources, state authorities say, are people burning fossil fuels in vehicles and the oil and gas industry. Inhaling ozone pollution worsens respiratory ailments and triggers asthma attacks.

A recent University of Washington study by a consortium of scientists concluded that at least 365,000 deaths a year worldwide — 12,378 a year in the United States and 814 in Colorado — can be attributed directly to ozone.

Dr. James Crooks at National Jewish Health in Denver said the increasing ozone over the last two years makes it “relatively dangerous” to go outside from July through October. 

“Whether it is ozone or wildfire smoke, if you have health concerns or are a vulnerable person or you work outside, there are going to be several months every year that are going to be dangerous for you,” he said.

Ozone levels exceeding 100 ppb “are definitely extreme and uncommon,” state air quality meteorologist Scott Landes said, adding that smoke from wildfires around the West plays a role.

In 1980, an ozone spike in Denver hit 146 ppb, one of the highest recorded in Colorado. State analysts say ozone gradually declined slightly for nearly 40 years but that a warming climate with intense heat and drier conditions favors spikes.

Overreach or necessary?

Clean air advocates questioned state leaders’ will to meet health standards.

“We’re not headed in a direction of cleaner air,” said Center for Biological Diversity attorney Robert Ukeiley, who for years has fought for clean air at Air Quality Control Commission hearings.

State Attorney General Phil Weiser on Wednesday withdrew state air officials’ proposed Employee Traffic Reduction Program after chamber of commerce officials declared it overreaching, impractical and unfair.

“How Coloradans commute to work,” Colorado Chamber of Commerce government affairs director Katie Wolf said, “shouldn’t be the concern of state government.”

CDPHE director Jill Hunsaker-Ryan later told the Post that state leaders remain “fully committed to reducing ozone pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, a charge that Governor Polis has given us.” Regulations requiring less car travel “are one important tool,” she said, “but in this case it makes sense to use a voluntary approach.”

The withdrawal shocked health groups: “If we can’t even bring employers and employees together to expand options to work without polluting, then it’s hard to imagine we’re going to do the other things needed to clean our air,” Colorado Public Interest Research Group director Danny Katz said. Elders Climate Action leader Bob Yuhnke said “the only long-term solution is to electrify the vehicle fleet. We also need to stop burning carbon to stop warming the planet.”

If EPA officials downgrade Colorado’s status, it’d be the second reclassification in two years. The re-blended gas requirement for a nine-county area including metro Denver — as in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and New York — would kick in a year after the downgrade.

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