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Aerial view of rest area near Colorado River at Rifle, Colorado.

Data shows good air quality in Garfield County

Recorded levels of methane and VOCs trending downward in the airshed

PRESS RELEASE
May 22, 2025

A review of local monitoring data shows that Garfield County is home to clean air with air quality trends heading in the right direction. Data in Garfield County, which has monitored air quality since 2008, shows a decreasing trend in volatile organic compound (VOCs) levels since 2011.

Garfield County Environmental Health Specialist Ted White, P.E., told the Board of County Commissioners, which was acting in its role as the Garfield County Board of Health, that local air quality remains good.

The county examines air quality at its monitoring stations in Battlement Mesa, Parachute, Rifle, and Carbondale. It monitors VOCs and nitrous oxides at its Battlement Mesa site; visibility from the Rifle Branch Library; and meteorological data at all its sites.

“The VOCs include speciated non-methane organic compounds,” White told the board. “That’s where we monitor for about 90 different compounds. We also monitor for methane and total hydrocarbons, which gives you one large, broad number, whereas speciated non-methane organic compounds breaks that up into all the different (pollutants).”

Air quality monitoring stations are located across the county, with some operated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE); PurpleAir, which are low-cost particulate sensors funded by grants, businesses, or citizens; and Garfield County.

The county also monitors lower-level ozone at its mobile station in Battlement Mesa, at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) near Carbondale, and in Rifle at the public health building.

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a primary national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) concentration for ozone to protect human health,” White said. “For the most part, ozone levels have been below that NAAQS standard. Lower-level ozone, not atmospheric ozone, forms from chemical reactions when nitrous oxides and VOCs are in the presence of sunlight.”

VOCs and nitrous oxides may include vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, wildfires, and other natural events, such as stratospheric intrusions, he added. The only times ozone levels were elevated above NAAQS limits were in 2020 and 2021, likely due to wildfires in the west, including the local Pine Gulch and Grizzly Creek fires in 2020.

“Most of the ozone we’re seeing from looking at the data over the years is more of a public health concern based off of natural events than any sources that are localized,” added Garfield County Environmental Health Manager Jannette Whitcomb.

The county also monitors particulate matter (PM), including PM 10 (microns in size) at the Battlement Mesa site and PM 2.5 at Battlement Mesa and Rifle Public Library.

Whitcomb told the board that the Carbondale monitoring site shares the airshed with Aspen, providing data for much of the Roaring Fork Valley.

“It is nice to have air quality information as a public health official but also it’s a benefit for the community and for awareness of what’s happening on both sides of the county,” she said. “It’s been very useful to have this monitoring in conjunction with the PM 2.5 sensors.”

White added that annual average PM 2.5 levels in Garfield County are typically below the maximum level set by the EPA, and sometimes “very far below.”

“The major health concerns moving into the future, especially with wildfire, is going to be the PM 2.5 and ozone,” Whitcomb added.

Methane levels recorded in Battlement Mesa are also trending downward and are more in line with the global mean, which is determined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“Our methane levels locally are improving greatly,” Whitcomb told the board. “We want good oil and gas operators in Garfield County doing best practices, and I think this is showing that we do have them.”

The board of health directed staff to continue air quality monitoring and requested a work session to discuss future funding and the costs of replacing monitoring equipment that is nearing the end of its operational life. The air monitoring budget for 2025 was $97,708 for operations and maintenance of equipment.

“Since I’ve been a commissioner, we’ve always had good air quality even with 11,000 active wells in Garfield County,” said Commissioner Tom Jankovsky.

Real-time air quality data is available on the Garfield County website.