More Gas Drilling Smog in Rural Wyoming Leads To More Doctor Visits

The higher the smog levels in Sublette County Wyoming, the more people go to see doctors. Sounds about right. Unless you know we're talking about a very rural area in the middle of the wintertime. Thanks to waves of new gas drilling, lots of ozone is now created by the winter sunlight reflecting off snow and photochemically changing the voluminous Nitrogen Oxide and Volatile Organic Compounds into ozone, or smog.

According to a new study from 2008 to 2011, for every 10 parts per billion ozone rose in Sublette County, respiratory-based visits by residents to doctors rose 3 percent.

Kerry Pride, a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist assigned to the Wyoming Department of Health, said the study’s results are in line with what the department expected. Similar studies around the country and internationally have indicated similar trends.

Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality has rolled out a plan to reduce the pollution with a deadline of 2015.