As if the price at the pump weren’t high enough, Colorado motorists could wind up paying another half a buck per gallon thanks to a pending federal action.

As The Gazette reported Wednesday, it was our own Gov. Jared Polis who actually had egged on the feds a couple of years ago. He wrote the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 shortly after taking office, urging the agency to proceed with more stringent ozone standards — which now stand to raise the already-stratospheric cost of gas.

Think of it as the EPA’s gas tax.

This week, the Polis administration is backpedaling from its earlier stance, promising if needed to request an extension on deadlines for the more onerous standards. Coloradans should welcome the governor’s second thoughts.

Because Colorado missed ozone-control targets over the last three years for much of the Front Range, federal environmental regulations automatically will trigger a requirement for the use of a more refined — and more expensive — kind of gasoline that creates less ozone. The requirement takes effect a year after a final EPA determination that the air pollution control region has been moved to the “severe” non-attainment category.

Federal rules allow for Colorado to seek an extension on the deadline, and Polis’ predecessor, then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, did so. But as The Gazette reported, Polis’ 2019 letter to the EPA asked the agency to withdraw Colorado’s request for an extension.

“We believe that the interests of our citizens are best served by moving aggressively forward and without delay in our efforts to reduce ground level ozone concentrations …,” he wrote.

Since then, of course, the price of gas has skyrocketed along with overall inflation — the likes of which Colorado and the rest of the country haven’t seen in generations.

Hence, the governor’s newfound willingness to consider a delay in the new EPA mandate.

“Governor Polis will aggressively explore whatever legal means necessary to avoid increases in the price of gas,” Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Polis, said in a written statement to The Gazette. “Absolutely a request for an extension is one of the legal means that would be pursued if Colorado ever faces increased gas prices from EPA Action….”

Not exactly a line in the sand, but we’ll take it for now.

The administration’s pivot also follows a letter to the governor in May from Colorado business leaders pleading with him to seek the extension. The letter said the new gasoline blend would cost Colorado consumers at least $0.51 more per gallon.

The EPA has been tilting at Colorado’s ozone levels for a very long time. The Colorado Department of Health and Environment told The Gazette air quality has improved greatly over the past several decades but that it has been difficult for the state to “comply with increasingly stringent federal standards.”

Some critics of the EPA policy told The Gazette a lot of the region’s ozone issues stem from uncontrollable natural, out-of-state and even international sources.

“Most of our ozone, 60%, is naturally occurring, blows in from other states and countries, or is caused by wildfires,” said Rich Coolidge of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association.

While the EPA chases ozone, Colorado motorists are just trying to get from Point A to Point B without busting their budgets. Let’s not make them dig any deeper into their pockets.

It’s good to see the governor now wants to help them out.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board