County earns 'A' for air

County earns 'A' for air

May 3, 2001

A HAZE hangs over the Montezuma Valley during a winter day this year. A new American Lung Association report, however, gives the county an "A" for air quality.

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Montezuma County is one of three Colorado counties that received an "A" rating from the American Lung Association this week for its air quality, based on the amount of ozone lingering in the air.

The data compiled by the lung association rates counties based on the number of days that ozone levels reached unhealthy ranges between 1997 and 1999.

According to the study, Montezuma County had no recorded days of high ozone levels in those years. However, the study did not take into account particulates and acidic pollutants also measured at the Mesa Verde National Park air-quality monitoring sites.

Ozone pollution is caused primarily by automotive pollution that creates the thick summer smog common in urban areas.

The winter haze that often stretches over the county is attributed in part to sulfite particulates from the Four Corners power plants and other regional power plants that burn coal to generate electricity.

According to Bill Malm, a physicist who monitors air quality at Mesa Verde, about 30 percent of the particulate pollution in the county is due to sulfates, 30 percent from organic materials, and 30 percent from soil materials.

"The air quality is pretty good, and as a whole it’s a lot better than the East," said Malm. The annual average visual range in the Ohio River Valley is close to 35 kilometers, while at Mesa Verde it is 150 to 170 kilometers.

But Malm said that during 20 percent of the most-polluted days measured at Mesa Verde, sulfates from power plants are rising.

And, although the lung association’s study did not take into account particulates, it states, "No other single source of pollution poses so much danger to health and the environment as do coal-burning power plants."

"We hope at some point to be able to do a particulate study," said Paul Billings, a spokesman for the lung association. "We think that particulate is very important, and would like to compile a combined report or separate report."

According to Malm, the county’s winter haze is most apparent because of the winter inversion effect, which traps pollution from the San Juan power plant in New Mexico and the Four Corners power plant in Arizona. In the summer, the winds tend to disperse pollution but also sometimes bring in pollution from as far away as Mexico.

San Juan County, N.M., home also received an "A" rating from the study.

The study also stated that 1,844 Montezuma County residents have asthma, chronic bronchitis, and adult emphysema, a little over 8 percent of the total population. Ozone irritates the respiratory tract and can cause shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and chest pain when inhaling deeply.

Along with Montezuma County, Weld and El Paso counties received "A" ratings in Colorado. Jefferson County flunked.

The study states that 92.5 million Americans, as of 1998, were still living in areas that do not meet the national ozone standards set by the Clean Air Act.

This is the second year Montezuma County has received an "A" rating from the lung association.