3C: Uinta Basin ozone returns in a snowy winter

The Uinta Basin occasionally experiences high ozone during winter months. Ozone is a respiratory irritant that impacts human health, and it is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Winter ozone requires strong, multi-day temperature inversions, which only form when the basin is blanketed in snow. It also requires emissions of air pollution.

Most of the pollution that leads to winter ozone in the basin is emitted from the local oil and gas industry, and regulation that targets the industry may have a detrimental impact on the Uinta Basin economy.

The Uinta Basin is out of compliance with EPA air quality standards for ozone. Market forces and improvements to oil and gas operations have reduced emissions of ozone-forming pollution, and those changes led to a decline in winter ozone levels from 2010 through 2022. Because of that decline, the Uinta Basin was on the cusp of official compliance with the EPA ozone standard. 

This year, a sharp uptick in oil and gas production, combined with unprecedented snow cover and many strong inversions, led to high ozone during the past winter, including 33 days above the EPA standard, and maximum ozone of 119 parts-per-billion (the standard is 70 parts-per-billion). This winter shows that more work is needed to reduce emissions and eliminate wintertime ozone in the Uinta Basin.