Not so much when you look at the whole picture. Wyoming is the least populated state. Why would they be having air pollution issues?
Air pollution in Wyo. community rivals that of big cities
BOULDER, Wyo. – There isn’t anything metropolitan about this tiny unincorporated town in southwest Wyoming, where a few single-family homes and a volunteer fire station stand against a skyline of snowcapped mountains.
ADVERTISEMENTBut Boulder, with a population of just 75 people, has one thing in common with major metropolitan areas: air pollution thick enough to pose health risks.
“Used to be you could see horizon to horizon, crystal clear. Now you got this,” said Craig Jensen as he gestured to a pale blue sky that he says is not as deeply colored as it used to be. “Makes you wonder what it’s going to do to the grass, the trees and the birds.”
The pollution, largely from the region’s booming natural gas industry, came in the form of ground-level ozone, which has exceeded healthy levels 11 times since January and caused Wyoming to issue its first ozone alerts. Now the ozone threatens to cost the industry and taxpayers millions of dollars to stay within federal clean-air laws.
So the taxpayers subsidize the oil and gas industry and pay to clean up their messes while the oil and gas industry rakes in BILLIONS in profit.
Devon [Energy] reports highest Barnett Shale earnings to date
What’s wrong with that picture?
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Ozone? That’s a new one. Range Resources wants to drill a well on our property in Southwest pennsylvania. I’ll have to ask them about ozone, as well as benzene, toluene, and hydrogen sulfide.