"Put a Cap on Ozone" Program puts nearly 9,500 Gas Caps on Area Vehicles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20,2000

The "Put a Cap on Ozone" gas cap program is officially over. Approximately 9,500 new gas caps have been given out to metropolitan area motorists since June 15. Another 3,000 people received vouchers good toward the purchase of a new NAPA gas cap.

The caps were distributed through emissions testing facilities, including the independent testers of 1981 and older vehicles. Emissions testing centers do still have some gas caps on hand and will continue to give them out till they are gone.

During the "Put a Cap on Ozone" program, area residents who went to emissions testing stations with faulty gas caps, or who were missing their gas caps altogether, were given a new NAPA gas cap for free. Customers with unusual or locking caps were given a voucher good for a $5 discount on a new cap at area NAPA stores.

The gas cap program was part of the Regional Air Quality Council's summer ozone awareness campaign. Summertime ozone pollution is formed when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides react in the presence of sunlight. Faulty gas caps and vehicles without gas caps emit VOCs. Ozone pollution can damage lung tissue and cause breathing problems.

The program also coincided with a new gas cap test requirement at emissions testing stations. Vehicles having a gas cap with an inadequate seal now fail the emissions test, where previously that part of the test had been advisory only.

It has been estimated that vehicles with bad or missing gas caps account for up to three tons of air pollution per day in the metro area. The "Put a Cap on Ozone" campaign has improved air quality by reducing VOCs by approximately 660 lbs. per day.

Gasoline evaporation through faulty or worn out gas caps also represents a significant loss in gas mileage for motorists. A gas cap with a poor seal can allow about a gallon of gasoline to evaporate out of the gas tank every two weeks.

Ken Lloyd, Executive Director of the RAQC, was pleased by the cooperative effort that made this program a reality.

"This program illustrates that public/private partnerships area successful way to achieve air quality goals," Lloyd said.

"This has been a real positive program for us," said Major Hearn, Envirotest General Manager. "Our customers liked getting free new gas caps and the personal convenience that represented, because they didn't have to make an extra trip to a store and then back to our testing station. And our employees liked being able to give out some good news along with the bad news that the customer's vehicle had failed."

"This program has been a beneficial one in a number of important ways," said Shirleen Tucker, manager of the State Health Department's Mobile Sources Program. "First, it helped us to implement a mandatory element of the emissions test to Denver-area motorists. For those that failed for a gas cap, most or all of the cost of the replacement was covered. It provided for an easier transition to this requirement for everyone.

"It also gave everyone involved an opportunity to explain the differences between the ozone layer high above us that is vital layer of protection from the sun's harmful rays, and ground-level ozone, a harmful pollutant that can affect the health of all Coloradans."

The "Put a Cap on Ozone" program was co-sponsored by the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC), NAPA Auto Parts, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Envirotest Systems Corp. It was funded by the Colorado Department of Transportation and Envirotest Systems Corp. NAPA provided the caps at cost.