A13F-3244:
Modeled Oil and Gas Atmospheric Impacts in National Parks and Wilderness Areas in the Western US
Monday, 15 December 2014
Tammy M Thompson1, Michael G Barna2, Bret A Schichtel2, John Vimont3 and C Thomas Moore4, (1)Colorado State University, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Fort Collins, CO, United States, (2)National Park Service Fort Collins, Air Resources Division, Fort Collins, CO, United States, (3)National Park Service Lakewood, Air Resources Division, Lakewood, CO, United States, (4)Western States Air Resources Council, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Fort Collins, CO, United States
Abstract:
Oil and gas production in the Western United States has increased considerably over the past 10 years. While many of the still limited oil and gas impact assessments have focused on potential human health impacts, the typically remote locations of production in the Intermountain West suggests that the impacts of oil and gas production on national parks and wilderness areas (class 1&2 areas) could also be important. To evaluate this, we utilize the Comprehensive Air quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) with two year-long modeling episodes representing 2008 and 2011, meteorology and emissions. The model inputs for the 2008 and 2011 episodes were generated as part of the West-wide Jump-start Air Quality Modeling Study (WestJumpAQMS) and Three State Air Quality Study (3SAQS) respectively. Both studies included a detailed assessment of oil and gas (O&G) emissions in Western States for the respective years. Each year-long modeling episode was run both with and without emissions from O&G production. The difference between these two runs provides an estimate of the contribution of the O&G production to air quality. These data were used to assess the contribution of O&G to the 8 hour average ozone concentrations, daily and annual fine particulate concentrations, annual nitrogen deposition totals and visibility in the modeling domain. We present the results for the class 1&2 areas in the Western US. We also present temporal trends of O&G impacts, differentiating between trends in urban and rural areas.
