The PM2.5 violation used by the EPA for Salt Lake County was 48 micrograms and in Cache County it was 40 micrograms. The EPA's 24-hour standard for PM2.5 prior to 2006 was 65 micrograms.

The EPA based its new proposed designation on air quality data, verified by state regulators, from 2005-2007.

Huntsman had recommended that nonattainment areas should be all of Salt Lake and Davis counties and a large part of Weber County. He also recommended to the EPA that they designate eight townships for a Utah Valley nonattainment area and seven townships in the Cache Valley area.

The new designations are intended to start a process of local and state officials working on a plan to reduce PM2.5 air quality readings. The pollutants in question are about one thirtieth the size of an average human hair and have been linked to increased problems for people with heart and lung diseases.

Utah is in the EPA's Region 8, which includes six Western states. The governors of Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota wrote short letters to the EPA that did not recommend any areas for the nonattainmentnon-attainment tag. Huntsman's letter to the EPA was 66 pages and the EPA's response, 91 pages, was the longest for the eight states.

Utah now has 60 days to give the EPA documents that detail what's going to be done about high PM2.5 numbers.

The EPA will also announce in the next few weeks on the Federal Register the start date of a 30-day public comment on the proposed designations.

For more information or copies of the letters between state governors and the EPA, visit, epa.gov/pmdesignations/2006standards/index.htm.

---

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com