SUBLETTE COUNTY – Ultra Petroleum Energy received county permission Tuesday to park an air-quality monitoring trailer by the Boulder Battalion No. 4 Station for a research project.

UP Energy’s Carrie Hatch made the proposal to county commissioners at their Jan. 19 meeting. Sublette County Unified Fire Chief Shad Cooper, who said he was fine with the request.

“We want to investigate how field activities affect the town of Boulder so that we can better understand how to effectively mitigate and minimize impacts to the public,” said Ultra’s Kelly Bott.

Hatch, with Bott’s proposal in hand, asked if the solar-powered station with a 20-foot tower could be placed right in Boulder as soon as possible with the Upper Green River Valley’s winter ozone monitoring season now under way through March.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality designated the winter ozone season and installed its network of air-quality monitoring stations in key locations to watch for exceedances of the 2015 federal ozone threshold of 70 parts per billion.

Pollutant emissions of volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxides from the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah Field’s oil and gas developments can combine with direct sunshine, temperature inversions, high snow cover and low winds to create unhealthy ozone levels.

Many of the most recent exceedances measured and reported by DEQ take place at the Boulder air-quality station.

Ultra is the major developer in the Anticline, along with Pinedale Energy Partners. The research project set in Boulder could help Ultra scientists pinpoint what affects ozone levels in a residential area. Data could help the operator respond more quickly, according to Hatch.

“In response to elevated ambient ozone levels monitored at the (DEQ) Boulder Air Quality Monitoring Station, (Ultra) has embarked in a research project to better understand how industry activity levels may be influencing ozone impacts,” Hatch said of the proposal.

“Specifically we would like to conduct research of meteorological conditions and ozone levels within the town of Boulder,” Bott wrote.

This would not be “regulatory-level monitoring” for DEQ but could help the operator “understand how Ultra’s day-to-day and hour-to-hour activity levels, as well as regional factors, might influence ozone.”

Ultra is upgrading five of its 11 monitoring stations to 2BTech ozone monitors and will be watching “in near-real time.” for potential causes during its activities The Boulder monitor could help Ultra refine tools for ozone contingency plans and minimize exceedances.

Ultra could also tell employees – “particularly those with underlying health conditions that may make them more susceptible to the impacts of ozone” – to pay attention to DEQ ozone monitors.

Hatch asked if the Boulder skid-mounted trailer could be placed as soon as possible because the ozone season has begun. She also requested periodic access to calibrate the equipment.

Chair Joel Bousman asked Cooper about the request.

“I don’t see any conflict with the proposal,” Cooper said. “All three locations are accessible.”

Bousman asked Hatch if the extra monitoring station’s research would “explain unexplained ozone spikes” in the Boulder area.

“I think all of us are trying to figure out what’s going on,” she said.

Commissioner Tom Noble suggested a memorandum of understanding between the county and Ultra, which deputy attorney Clayton Melinkovich said he could write up.

Bousman, Noble and commissioners Doug Vickrey, Sam White and Dave Stephens approved the motion.

Vickrey asked if the information Ultra compiles would be compared to DEQ data. Hatch said it will be Ultra’s own research and not necessarily used for comparisons.