By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun
Keep an eye on gas prices in the next few weeks, Colorado, and you can watch a major policy battle play out between an extremely irritated Gov. Jared Polis and officials enforcing the federal Clean Air Act.
Colorado has a big problem with toxic ground-level ozone in the nine-county northern Front Range area that the Environmental Protection Agency has declared in “severe” violation of Clean Air Act ozone limits. When an area hits “severe,” the Clean Air Act requires all gas stations in that area to begin selling “reformulated” gas during the summer ozone season, beginning June 1.
Reformulated gas, according to the EPA, can cut back on ozone-causing emissions because it’s denser and doesn’t evaporate as quickly in hot weather. Polis argues it will shoot Colorado gas prices up by 50 cents a gallon or more. But the EPA says its studies show the impact is only a few cents.