Ozone from natural gas drilling keeps Wyomingites indoors

AIR POLLUTION: Ozone from natural gas drilling keeps Wyomingites indoors (03/09/2011)

Thanks to a natural gas drilling boom, the famously clear Wyoming skies are looking more like smoggy Los Angeles these days.
Residents near gas fields in the western part of the Cowboy State have said they suffer from watery eyes, shortness of breath and bloody noses because of ozone levels that have risen above even those observed in Los Angeles and other major cities.
"It is scary to me personally," said Debbee Miller, a manager at a snowmobile dealership in Pinedale. "I never would have guessed in a million years you would have that kind of danger here."
Gas drilling has been an economic boon for Wyoming. The state's half-million residents enjoy one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates, 6.4 percent, and lawmakers predict a budget surplus of more than $1 billion over the coming year.
But this wealth may come at a price. At least one daycare center in the Upper Green River Basin has prohibited outdoor recess, and state officials have urged the elderly to avoid strenuous outdoor activity.
"They're trading off health for profit," said Elaine Crumpley, a retired science teacher who lives just outside Pinedale.
The gas industry has said it is working to curb smog by reducing truck traffic and switching to drilling rigs with pollution controls. Officials have also postponed well completions and maintenance until ozone advisories have passed, said Royal Dutch Shell PLC spokeswoman Darci Sinclair.
"Shell has taken some meaningful measures to really reduce our [emissions]," Sinclair said. "Some were voluntary, and some were mandatory, but they've resulted in some significant reductions."
Ozone levels reached as high as 124 parts per billion last Wednesday, two-thirds higher than U.S. EPA's maximum healthy limit of 75 parts per billion and above levels during the worst day in Los Angeles all last year -- 114 parts per billion, according to EPA data.
The state outdoor strenuous activity advisories encompass children and people with respiratory conditions as well as the elderly. Such a prohibition is anathema to many residents of outdoorsy Wyoming.
"We're all outdoor people here," said Crumpley. "We don't live inside. That's why we chose to be here" (Billings Gazette, March 8). -- PK