Basin Expected To Be Declared In Attainment Of Federal Ozone Standard

Several presentations during the Uintah Basin Energy Summit came from Utah State University representatives, including an air quality update by Dr. Seth Lyman, Director of the USU Bingham Research Center. Lyman started with good news, sharing that the Uinta Basin is likely to be declared in attainment of the federal ozone standard, following a period of non-attainment since 2018. He explained that the reason the Basin is moving in the right direction is because of improvements in emissions, not because of changes in the weather. “As a percent of the oil and gas energy produced in the Basin in 2012, about 5% of that energy was lost to the atmosphere as methane. And as you can see, by 2024, it's less than 2%,” shared Dr. Lyman. The thing needing more work is NOx emissions which have not been declining. During Day 2 of the Energy Summit, USU Director of Programs Jim LaMuth presented, reporting that USU Uintah Basin had 145 graduates in 2024-2025 and that there is a new Bachelors program in Energy Engineering offered at USU.