VERNAL — Focus shifts to the Wasatch Front during the summer months as air quality goes down, but people in other parts of the state struggle to breathe clean air as well.

The Uintah Basin has problems, too, and though they typically happen in the winter, summer brings its own set of challenges.

Coping with severe asthma is a daily routine at the Sampson house. Tina Sampsons' daughter breathes in and out, with the help of a medical device.

"Singulair, Flonase, Zyrtec," Sampson said. "Two puffs in the morning of Symbicort and then two puffs at night."

The routine is designed to keep Brinley Sampson, 7, breathing. When she was 3 years old, Brinley Sampson got pneumonia and was hospitalized.

"Her lungs are so sensitive that you don't know from one minute to another if she's going to be in the hospital," Tina Sampson said.

The Sampsons moved to Uintah County around the time questions started being raised about the area's air quality, which can be worse in the winter months than the summertime air quality in Los Angeles.

"You would think I would get fresher air from being out here," Tina Sampson said.

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Study targets winter ozone problem in Uintah Basin

In the first three months of 2011, ground-level ozone exceeded federal standards 26 times in the Uintah Basin, according to data gathered by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. That was down from 37 days for the same period in 2010, the agency said

Unlike urban parts of the state, where cars have been shown to be a major contributor to poor air quality, in the Uintah Basin, where there are a lot fewer vehicles, researchers have found gas and oil wells are a major contributor.

The Uintah Basin Air Quality Study found that testing near oil and gas wells showed those sites emitted up to 99 percent of the volatile organic compounds in those areas and up to 62 percent of the nitrogen oxides.

Newfield Production, the state's largest producer of crude oil, opened a new gas and oil separation facility in February as a step toward reducing those emissions in its area of operation.

"It allows us to reduce ozone constituents, namely volatile organic compounds," said Daryll Howard, vice president of Newfield Rocky Mountains Division. "We reduce those up to 95 percent with this common facility."

The plant can process up to 20,000 barrels a day of the oil and water mixture that comes from more than 200 wells in the company's Uintah Basin field. That reduces the number of heavy trucks on the road. It also allows the company to reuse the water.

"It's about improving the environment in which we operate every day," Howard said. "We pride ourselves in being an operator of choice and a good steward of the lands we operate on."

Tina Sampson said she's happy to hear about the changes in the oil field, but believes the only way the region's air will get better is if everyone gets involved.

"If everyone takes that small step and maybe just turns their car off that one time, if all of us did that, it would definitely improve the situation for all of us," she said.

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