A year after health officials issued a record number of alerts for high ozone levels on Colorado’s Front Range, federal and state officials are trying to rein in the gas that can make outdoor activities a health risk.
But new Colorado laws aimed at improving air quality along that urban corridor east of the Rocky Mountains aren’t expected to do much to directly reduce ozone, according to experts charged with bringing down the levels. “These are not the magic bullets that will bring us into compliance, but they will be helpful in reducing emissions,” said Michael Silverstein, executive director of the Regional Air Quality Council, the lead air-quality planning organization for nine counties of the Front Range.
In the most recent legislative session, Colorado lawmakers passed three bills aimed at improving air quality: One replaces highly polluting diesel buses with electric buses, another provides funding so residents can access public transportation free of charge for a month during the high-ozone season, and the third creates a system to alert the public to toxic emissions released from industrial sources.
