DENVER -- As regulators started weighing tougher pollution standards Friday for oil and gas producers in northeastern Colorado, residents of western Colorado asked that those standards be extended statewide in the face of an energy boom.

The state Air Quality Control Commission is considering more stringent rules along Colorado's heavily populated Front Range and new regulations for the rest of the state because health officials say smog-forming emissions are increasing at a higher-than-projected rate in the oil and gas fields.

State health officials have proposed statewide ozone limits for the oil and gas industry for the first time. The rules outside the Front Range, though, wouldn't be as strict because the problem in other parts of the state isn't seen as being as immediate.

That didn't sit well with several western Coloradans who drove to Denver for the opening of a two-day hearing.

"We think we deserve them (regulations) just as much as the Front Range does," said Greg Russi, a member of the New Castle Town Council.

Russi said state figures show that 800 drilling permits were approved in 2004 in Garfield County, the epicenter of western Colorado's energy boom. Through October of this year, 1,400 permits were approved, he said.

Tara Meixsell, also from New Castle, said she has watched as friends and neighbors have developed health problems as the number of wells has escalated. She said problems include dizziness, disorientation, fatigue, joint pains, unusual tumors and respiratory problems.

"Some pretty shocking and pretty terrifying and sad things are happening to some of the people who live around these gas wells," Meixsell said.

Duke Cox, a Garfield County home builder and president of the community group Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, said the number of wells in the county is projected to jump from the current 3,000 to at least 10,000 the next 10 to 15 years.

"I can assure you that for those of us in Garfield County who breathe that air every day and look to a future that does not look promising, you cannot make regulations too stringent," Cox said.

But state officials planned to stick with their recommendation for the statewide rule, said Mike Silverstein, manager of planning and policy for the state air pollution control division. He said the air quality control commission will make the decision, but that the Front Range is a priority because of the looming deadline to meet federal standards.

Silverstein said the proposed statewide standard, which would take effect in 2008, would reduce emissions by 60 percent.

The oil and gas industry generally supports the statewide rule, but has offered an alternative to the proposed changes on the Front Range. Silverstein said staffers back the proposal, which will be heard by the commission.

Industry representatives want to keep the current system, which requires energy companies to cut emissions overall but leaves it up to them to decide how many pollution-control devices are needed.

Currently, companies must slash pollution by nearly 48 percent. They've suggested increasing that to more than 70 percent.

Environmentalists and activists want the commission to pass the original plan, which would require pollution controls on all tanks emitting 11 tons or more a year. The tanks capture liquids and other byproducts and are routinely vented.

The statewide standard, which goes beyond EPA requirements, would mandate pollution-control devices on tanks emitting at least 20 tons of pollution a year.

The state is also proposing regulating emissions from internal combustion engines and pollution-control equipment on tanks for the first 90 days of production from new wells.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D3.