Study: Colo. oil-gas pollution tops expectations

Ozone-forming air pollution measured along the Colorado Front Range by scientists is up to twice the amount that government regulators have calculated should exist, according to a new study. The researchers pinpoint oil and gas development as the main source - a finding that could have broad implications for the petroleum industry across the Rocky Mountain region. The Front Range in recent years hasn't met U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for ozone pollution during the summertime. A similar problem occurs in the growing gas fields of western Wyoming and eastern Utah during the winter, when conditions including bright sunshine, temperature inversions and snow on the ground help stimulate ozone formation. Starting in 2007, the scientists measured elevated levels of methane and other atmospheric hydrocarbons from atop a nearly 1,000-foot tower north of Denver. The tower is one of eight nationwide monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Unlike the other seven towers, the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory tower had been picking up unusually high levels of substances such as propane, butane and pentane...more