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Report:
1999 Summer
Ozone Reduction Campaign
Ozone is a summer time pollutant that causes lung irritation and difficulty in breathing. It can cause even healthy people to have trouble breathing and can cause more serious problems for people who already suffer from respiratory difficulty. The summer of 1998 was a record for high ozone levels in the Denver metropolitan areas.
Because of a longstanding outreach effort regarding winter air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter, the Denver-area public is well aware of winter air pollution. No similar outreach has been done to educate the public regarding summer ozone pollution, its causes, impacts and what can be done to decrease it. With the high ozone readings in 1998, the RAQC and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) launched an outreach and education effort. During the spring and summer of 1999, the RAQC and CDPHE worked in cooperation with numerous stakeholders to promote awareness about the effects of summer ozone pollution.
The ozone campaign consisted of 6 elements which included:
The Air Pollution Control Division technical services staff developed a system to forecast imminent meteorological conditions that support the development of ozone concentrations above 75 parts per billion (ppb). APCD staff meteorologists used national and local weather data and an array of national predictive models to make the advisory calls, effective at 4:00 p.m each day for the following 24 hour period. The APCD coordinated the advisory calls with the local media, put the advisories on their web page and set up a hotline for responses to citizen requests for information.
Based on the advisory calls made by the APCD, the RAQC provided a fax announcement of the advisory to 33 cities, counties and local agencies between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. on the day of the call. This was intended to allow local agencies to respond to the call by making changes in operational behavior designed to reduce volatile organic compounds. Additionally, the local governments provided information to the citizens through local cable programming and signs in public buildings.
The Division accurately predicted ozone levels for 98 of the 107 day season (92% accuracy). There were 9 missed calls. Of the 9 missed calls, 2 were called red (and should not have been called red) and 7 were not called red (and should have been called red). Therefore, of the 13 days with ozone levels above 75 ppb, six were correctly identified (46% accuracy). (See Table 4)
In the lower ranges of high ozone days (around 80 ppb) it is difficult to make an accurate prediction. In order to capture all high ozone days with an advisory in the future, the Division will be required to err on the conservative side and potentially over-predict. Given the closeness of the region to violating the ozone standard, the Division has indicated that they may have to call more red days next summer.
Historical data is provided in several tables.
The Air Pollution Control Division, the Regional Air Quality Council and the Air Quality Control Commission worked with the Colorado Petroleum Association and other refiners servicing the metro area to voluntarily reduce the Reid Vapor Pressure (and hence reduce the volatility) of the gasoline sold in this region. The reduction was from the 9.0 pounds per square inch (psi) (10 psi for ethanol fuels, approximately 5% to 10% of the market) allowed by the current waiver, to 8.5 psi (9.5 psi for ethanol) for the summer season. The refiners agreed to make the reduction from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The APCD staff estimated, depending on temperature, a 5% to 8% reduction in mobile source-related emissions could be expected from this 0.5 psi reduction.
Letters were received committing to the 0.5 psi reduction for the summer season, June through August, from Equilon Enterprise LLC (Shell & Texaco Working Together), Sinclair, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock and Philips Petroleum. Conoco committed to the 0.5 psi reduction through mid-September, and Frontier promised to make their best effort to comply with the 0.5 psi reduction through mid-September.
The APCD staff randomly sampled the fuel at metro area gasoline stations and reported that the average RVP was approximately 8.15 psi. It is assumed that this level provided at least the 0.5 psi reduction anticipated.
On-road and off-road gas vehicles and equipment, and Stage I gas station refilling represent 36% of the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) inventory. The reduction in RVP attained this season is estimated to achieve an approximate 3% reduction in total VOCs. (See chart.)
3. Outreach to Petroleum MarketersOne source of the hydrocarbons that contributes to ozone is spilled and evaporated fuel. By eliminating the overfilling of the fuel tank, small fuel spills, drips and excess evaporation are eliminated. The RAQC and CDPHE worked closely with the Colorado-Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association (CWPMA) and major refiners to provide stickers designed to educate the public about the need to "stop at the click." Stopping at the click reduces spills and evaporation. In addition, overfilling can disable emissions equipment.
The CWPMA helped distribute stickers that were placed on gasoline pumps, to gasoline vendors throughout the metro region. Texaco, Amoco, Conoco, Phillips 66, Sinclair, Royal Crest Dairy and many other independent retailers participated in the "stop at the click" program. Approximately 6,000 stickers were distributed. Follow-up calls were made by RAQC staff to remind people to use the stickers.
There remains an ongoing need to continue to work with petroleum companies to secure assistance in distributing the stickers and seeing that they are actually placed on the pumps. A few companies did not respond to our attempts to get them to participate in this program. The RAQC staff needs to continue to work on getting participation in this program.
4. Local Government OutreachThe Regional Air Quality Council's staff scheduled ozone workshops that included the metro region's larger local governments, as well as the smaller ones who have indicated an interest in air quality issues. Eighteen metro-area local governments participated in the ozone workshops. These included: Adams County, Arapahoe County, Arvada, Aurora, City of Boulder, Boulder County, Brighton, Commerce City, Denver, Douglas County, Englewood, Golden, Jefferson County, Lakewood, Littleton, Northglenn, Thornton, and Westminster.
Local governments were encouraged to bring staff to the workshop from Parks and Open Space, Facility Management, Fleets, Building Maintenance, Public Works, Purchasing and Public Information. The workshop covered sources of ozone for the metro region and strategies for reducing volatile organic compounds (a significant component of ozone) that come from local government operations. Workshop participants were asked to take the information received at the workshop back to their respective departments for discussion and to report to the RAQC regarding strategies that would be implemented.
During the workshops the RAQC provided materials that included:
The following is a summary of the trends in responses to the workshops and the need to make voluntary reductions in VOCs. In each workshop there were positive results and local governments agreed to make changes in one or several behaviors that contribute to ozone pollution.
Some of the pollution reduction strategies which were presented to the local governments are already being practiced for reasons unrelated to ozone. Other strategies were part of new information that the local government staff had not yet considered. Some of these changes, such as putting "stop at the click" stickers on local government fuel pumps, were simple and easy to comply with. Others were more difficult and required additional thought in implementing. These included refueling after dark and avoiding using 2 stroke engines on high ozone days.
Some of the ozone reduction strategies already being practiced by local governments include:
New strategies that most local governments agreed to undertake include:
Strategies that were more difficult for local governments to accomplish in the short-term but that will be continually examined as part of a long-term ozone reduction strategy include:
For several years, CDPHE and the Regional Air Quality Council have been working to let the public know about winter time air pollution, particularly from carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The message of winter-time air pollution and the need to limit driving, reduce wood burning, etc., now is one with which most Denver area residents are familiar.
Because high ozone readings in the Denver metro area are a relatively recent phenomenon, the same type of public education has not yet been done around ozone, what it is, how to reduce it, and the potential for high ozone readings during the summer months. Therefore, the CDPHE and the Regional Air Quality Council together undertook an effort to educate the public, through a media campaign, about summer ozone.
The media campaign had 4 elements:
As part of the effort to educate the public about summer ozone, the RAQC staff participated in or assisted with various public events, provided copy for inclusion in newsletters, and distributed flyers at places of high public traffic.
The RAQC staff undertook the following activities as part of the ozone public education:
There remains a considerable amount that can be done both to improve the public outreach effort and to refine the forecasting. The RAQC staff will need to continue to work with local governments, reminding them of strategies that can be used to reduce summer ozone. In addition, there are sectors of the economy such as building and lawn maintenance companies, the painting industry, and others where public outreach may produce results. Staff of the APCD and the RAQC should begin in the late fall of 1999 to plan for next summer's voluntary ozone reduction efforts.
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