Panel backs tougher N. Colo. ozone regulations

Proposed regulations aimed at curbing the pollutant known as ground-level ozone in northern Colorado were endorsed by the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization on Thursday, helping to pave the way for vehicle emissions tests and tightened oil and gas emissions standards in much of Weld and Larimer Counties.

The endorsement comes as much of northern Colorado struggles to deal with federal regulations limiting ground-level ozone. In May, Environmental Protection Agency standards concerning ground-level ozone were tightened -- leaving many northern Colorado leaders scrambling to rid the region of the harmful substance.

The regulations endorsed by the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization are mainly aimed at reducing volatile organic compounds, which are one of two substances which create ground-level ozone. Implementation may begin as early as 2009.

One of the endorsements -- a centralized vehicle emissions test -- could eliminate about one ton of the ground-level ozone contributing components a day.

The program, which already is in place in Denver, would require residents to travel to a centralized test for cars 1982 and newer and a two-speed tailpipe test for vehicles 1981 and older.

The centralized test was the preferred emissions test to the decentralized for vehicles 1996 and newer, one that checked on-board computer systems and allowed privately owned businesses to adopt the systems themselves.

"If we do go to a centralized, its like we're supporting the big business," said Dennis Houska, of Houska Automotive in Fort Collins, opposing the centralized test. "We've run enough business out of here."

Jim Brandon, with Environmental Systems Product, said there is typically a low wait time at the centralized stations and that a Clean Screen program also would be in place. The program, which supplements the centralized test, uses mobile emissions testers that read residents cars as they do their normal routines. In Denver, the supplemental program has allowed 37 percent of the vehicles it has tested to avoid taking the centralized test.

Bill Kaufman, of the Colorado Transportation Commission, said he knows deciding between a centralized and decentralized testing program is a tough decision. He made a similar choice during his tenure in the state legislature at the turn of the century.

"I thought it was the test that would give us the cleanest air," he said Thursday during the meeting. "And in the end it put some people out of that business. It's a hard decision to make.

"I think it gives us the cleanest air," Kaufman said. "That's our charge."

The other endorsement, concerning emissions from oil and natural gas facilities, was amended by the organization. Under the original recommendations, oil and gas companies were required to cut emissions by 20 percent.

The amended endorsement on Thursday drops that down to 15 percent, and is measured in a way that much better accommodates flaws in oil and gas companies' equipment monitoring system.

John Jacus, attorney for both Anadarko and Noble Energy -- the two largest oil and gas companies in Weld County -- said the amended standard would provide "negligible" benefits as the companies already work to operate above enforced regulations.

"It's the flexibility that it gives the operator, we think is the real benefit there," Jacus said.

The North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization's endorsement will come as part of a set or recommendations to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission on Sept. 18. There will then be a 60-day public comment period, ending with a hearing on Dec. 11 before it is sent to the Colorado Legislature in January for approval.

After the meeting, Michael Silverstein, with the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, said the endorsement is just another step in the long process to implement the regulations.

"We're happy with what the north front range did to endorse all the work we've done so far," said Silverstein in a telephone interview.