By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun
The future of Colorado’s ozone-fighting reformulated gasoline is getting a lot more complicated this spring.
To recap:
- The Front Range creates so much toxic ozone that we blew through EPA limits a long time ago.
- One sanction the EPA gave us for these “severe” violations is that in summer months, we must buy “reformulated gas,” or RFG, that creates less ozone-causing vapor.
- Oil companies and Gov. Jared Polis say the benefits of RFG in fighting ozone are minimal, and the refining process costs consumers up to 50 cents more a gallon.
- The EPA said no, the extra cost is only a few cents a gallon. Plus, the EPA said, while Suncor controls 40% of the gasoline market here, other gasoline companies would expand their RFG pipelines and protect consumers through competition.
So Holly Energy wants to do that. The company is seeking a state health department permit to put hundreds of millions more gallons of RFG through their existing tank farm in Henderson, in Adams County.
Problem is, while that could save the Front Range some output of volatile organic compounds that contribute to ozone, Holly Energy’s expansion will also create more carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide than it emits under its existing permit.
Meanwhile, because there’s no current, locally-produced competition for Suncor’s RFG, a gas station trade group says they can show RFG does actually raise Colorado drivers’ prices 20 to 40 cents a gallon by late summer, when local RFG stocks tend to run low.
They also claim some gas stations buy non-RFG gas, in violation of the law. The gas station group supports a bill in the legislature — unlikely to pass this late in a busy session — that would raise the fine for doing that from $500 to $5,000.
What everyone seems to agree on is that if Holly Energy’s RFG plans go forward, it’s Adams County residents that will suffer the most from any environmental impact. Adams County, of course, is already home to the sprawling and often-punished Suncor refinery, as well as countless fueling, trucking, warehousing and other industrial facilities.