Rising smog levels have put metro Denver back on the EPA's list of bad-air regions, a disappointing turn that means more pollution-
fighting efforts are in store for an area that thought it had put its dirty-sky days behind it.
The new pollution zone announced by the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday is the largest ever for Colorado, covering the entire metro area, parts of Weld and Larimer counties and even sweeping west to smudge the spectacular peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park.
The declaration marks a major step backward for Denver, which, less than two years ago, scored national headlines for a decades-long effort that cleaned its air of all major pollutants regulated by the federal government.
Now, after three years of elevated smog levels, coupled with new, tougher health standards for smog - or ground-level ozone - the region likely faces years of fresh efforts to reduce it.
The most obvious inconvenience for residents: requirements for cleaner-burning gasoline that are expected to add a penny or so per gallon to already skyrocketing gas prices.
Those will be coupled with less-visible moves, including new emission controls on oil and gas wells, the vast majority in Weld County.
But the efforts are good news for children, the elderly and thousands who suffer from respiratory ailments, particularly asthma.
Those groups tend to have higher sensitivity to ozone, which some specialists liken to sunburn of the lungs.
"Ozone is going to be the toughest of (the pollutants) for us to solve," said Jim Scherer, chairman of the Regional Air Quality Council, which designs pollution-fighting campaigns.
"We're trying to find a way in which we can do this without being too onerous on anyone," he said.
Normally, falling onto EPA's dirty-air list - being classified as a "non-attaintment" area in agency lingo - means the federal government takes more authority over pollution-cutting efforts.
It can also result in punitive action, such as a loss of highway funds or stricter controls on new plants or factories, if the air doesn't improve.
But under a new kind of agreement between the EPA and Colorado, the agency has agreed to hold off on any action for three years, while state and local officials attempt to bring ozone levels down using their own techniques.
Under this approach, called an Early Action Compact, Colorado hopes to cut smog levels by putting in controls that will cut emissions of ozone-forming compounds by nearly 50 percent on thousands of oil and gas wells.
Also, the state and the EPA will require refineries to produce a lower-volatility gasoline, which should also reduce ozone contributors.
Doug Benevento, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, has said he's confident the compact will help bring the region back into compliance with health standards for smog.
It's important to remember, too, he said, that the region is only "slightly" above the standard and not in the same dire straits as a place such as Southern California, where it could take until at least 2021 to bring smog levels down.
Environmentalists are critical of the compact, saying it doesn't go far enough to reduce smog levels, citing computer modeling conducted by the state health department.
"We don't think it's adequate," said Elena Nunez, of the activist group Environment Colorado.
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