Our region is deemed by air quality regulators to be out of compliance with EPA ozone standards. The solution put forward by the state is to require more automobile emissions testing, even though this type of testing and enforcement has not proved effective in lowering ozone pollution where it is in force. We don't have a brown cloud here, the alleged ozone is invisible.

Based upon one high pollution day - July 2, 2007 - the state says excess ozone from our small population of 10,000 cars is oozing down my river valley at night and spreading out over the plains of Colorado. In the morning, it changes direction and comes back from the plains.

Today I attended a lengthy hearing before the state Air Quality Control Commissioners who will determine whether the existing testing area should be expanded to include us.

The arguments against it included the fact during ozone season 300,000 tourists a day are going through our area into nearby Rocky Mountain National Park, so it's not the locals who are creating this air pollution, it's the tourists from all over the state and the country and forcing us to shell out $35 or more extra every time we renew our license plates plus the time and expense of obtaining the testing is not going to improve the air quality.

One of the key points is that the testing is done by a single company with which the state has a contract. It is a monopoly, and the tests are 100% funded by the vehicle owners. The more you understand about how this program works, the more you realize that a large part of the motivation for expanding the emissions testing program is to guarantee more income for the contractor.

It was a long day, and I left at 5 p.m. before the commissioners announced their decision. It sounded like it was going to go our way, but I was reminded of how we all felt about the Casey Anthony verdict - don't count your chickens until they're hatched.