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The Denver-Boulder area used to have "brown cloud" pollution caused by temperature inversions trapping auto exhaust, back in the 70s and 80s. These went away wi

The Denver-Boulder area used to have "brown cloud" pollution caused by temperature inversions trapping auto exhaust, back in the 70s and 80s. These went away with better national auto emissions standards and with state regulations testing car emissions. Recently, however, I've noticed more ozone and particulate pollution, but it's coming from the northeast, not Denver. This appears to be caused by fracking operations. Colorado now produces more oil than California or Alaska: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/production/ https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/production/

bproven 7y ago
Yeah living in the area I have noticed that as well. Pollution coming from the east / northeast (Weld County) probably due to the fracking. But if not, it would be interesting to find out where. However, this is not to say Den/Boulder doesnt still have pollution issues that need solving. I am hoping they will curtail diesel usage on the Front Range and we see better adoption of EVs here to help battle it. Y ou would be amazed at the amt of people with diesel trucks rolling coal and modding to emit plumes of smoke here :(
BurningFrog 7y ago
How does fracking produce ozone and particulate pollution?
- tstegart 7y ago
  Sometimes the oil is collected but the gas is burned off because it is not economically feasible to collect it. Kind of like in this picture: https://www.alamy.com/an-oil-well-pump-jack-natural-gas-flare-tower-image278802428.html https://www.alamy.com/an-oil-well-pump-jack-natural-gas-flar...
  - DanCarvajal 7y ago
    If only there was some sort of pipe that could be used to divert this gas over long distances to more economic processing facilities.
    - mikestew 7y ago
      If only there were regulations that said you had to use that pipe even if it is not economically feasible. But there aren't, so it gets burned.
      - BurningFrog 7y ago
        You could imagine some kind of small portable power station that burns the excess gas and... Well, there is typically no electrical grid by an oil well, so what to do with it might be the biggest problem
jackfoxy 7y ago
How does fracking result in ozone? If you're referring to flaring field gas, that is a typical oil field operation, whether fracked or not. And doesn't methane combustion result in CO2 and water?

bproven 7y ago

Yeah living in the area I have noticed that as well. Pollution coming from the east / northeast (Weld County) probably due to the fracking. But if not, it would be interesting to find out where. However, this is not to say Den/Boulder doesnt still have pollution issues that need solving. I am hoping they will curtail diesel usage on the Front Range and we see better adoption of EVs here to help battle it. Y ou would be amazed at the amt of people with diesel trucks rolling coal and modding to emit plumes of smoke here :(

BurningFrog 7y ago

How does fracking produce ozone and particulate pollution?

tstegart 7y ago
Sometimes the oil is collected but the gas is burned off because it is not economically feasible to collect it. Kind of like in this picture: https://www.alamy.com/an-oil-well-pump-jack-natural-gas-flare-tower-image278802428.html https://www.alamy.com/an-oil-well-pump-jack-natural-gas-flar...
- DanCarvajal 7y ago
  If only there was some sort of pipe that could be used to divert this gas over long distances to more economic processing facilities.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    If only there were regulations that said you had to use that pipe even if it is not economically feasible. But there aren't, so it gets burned.
    - BurningFrog 7y ago
      You could imagine some kind of small portable power station that burns the excess gas and... Well, there is typically no electrical grid by an oil well, so what to do with it might be the biggest problem

jackfoxy 7y ago

How does fracking result in ozone? If you're referring to flaring field gas, that is a typical oil field operation, whether fracked or not. And doesn't methane combustion result in CO2 and water?