Ozone pollution occurs primarily in the hot summer months when
emissions from a variety of sources, including industry,
automobiles and smaller, gas-powered engines, chemically react
in the presence of sunshine to form a harmful ground-level
pollutant. Not to be confused with upper atmosphere ozone which
provides protection from ultra-violet rays, ground-level ozone
is harmful to the health of all humans, particularly the
elderly, the very young and those with respiratory disease. In
recent summers, the Denver metropolitan and North Front Range
areas have exceeded federal ozone limits, and in 2007 were
designated as “nonattainment” for 8-hour federal ground-level
ozone standards. The EPA has given the area until 2015 to meet
the federal standard. The nonattainment area includes the
counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver,
Douglas, Jefferson, and portions of Larimer and Weld. Because
ground-level ozone pollution is generated by so many different
sources, there is no single solution to its prev