Air-pollution rules tough

Will officials need to place mandatory restrictions on vehicle use at certain times? "I think it's too early to say," Nielson said.

Huntsman's 2008 budget proposes adding air-pollution monitors and working on pollution modeling and analysis. This should help pinpoint the areas with the most pollution and the source of the fine particulates.

The governor's budget requests a one-time general fund appropriation of $1.6 million for the monitors and for new analysis. More "yellow" alerts requesting that residents reduce driving may result from the new rules.

The air pollutants, Nielson said, "are creating a health risk to our citizens."

Two appropriations are requested for mercury studies: $66,500 as a one-time payment from the general fund to analyze samples collected in the Great Salt Lake; and $147,100 in ongoing appropriations to pay for additional sampling in freshwater lakes and streams and fish.

The Great Salt Lake was found to have abnormally high levels of mercury in some places when analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We want to be able to follow up on how broad a problem it is," Nielson said. "We don't know where the mercury is partitioned and located" in the lake's soil and water.

Utah is already collecting selenium samples. "This will give us an opportunity to use those samples and do mercury analysis on them," she said.

The department's effort in freshwater lakes will examine areas where mercury pollution is higher, to "determine whether this is an area where the rocks and geology are high in mercury," or if it comes from air deposition. When coal is burned in power plants, sometimes mercury is released, which can reach water bodies.

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