Positive forecast: Utah 'air is getting cleaner'

Report notes state's progress meeting federal standards

Despite the obvious haze and inversions that frequent the Wasatch Front, the Utah Foundation reported Wednesday that the state is meeting or working to meet national air-quality standards.

The state also is closer to implementing a vehicle emission standard and is addressing ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, the report said.

"Maintaining a healthy environment must continue to be a long-term priority for the state as its population continues to grow," the 60-year-old Utah-based nonprofit foundation stated in its research brief.

"The fact is the air is getting cleaner," said Utah Foundation research analyst Laura Summers. In a phone interview Wednesday, she noted that Utah historically has met federal pollution standards, and she predicted that the state will continue to do so.

Utah Division of Air Quality director Cheryl Heying agreed, but she singled out Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber counties as areas still having problems meeting newer federal standards on ozone and particulate matter. Cities located in basins, she added, complicate the issue.

"The pollutants get caught in our valleys, or bowls, during high-pressure days," Heying said. With that unique geology in mind, she said, Utah will need to develop solutions to come into compliance with newer federal standards.

Heying and Summers said more research into the harmful effects of ozone and particulate matter has made it harder for states to comply with regulations in those two areas as the federal Environmental Protection Agency comes up with tougher standards.

"Obviously, we have some work to do on those two issues," Summers said. "As the population continues to grow, we're going to need to be continually mindful of the effects of air pollution."

Summers said there is some disagreement within the EPA on whether air-pollution standards go far enough to protect the health of children and the elderly. She said the Utah Foundation, however, is only presenting information to the public and isn't offering recommendations on that subject.

Last month, the Government Accountability Office released its own report that charged the EPA should be doing more to protect children's health and that the EPA has been ignoring its own advisory committee for guidance on policies that address the risk that environmental contaminants pose to children.

After the GAO released its report, Utah Moms for Clean Air vice president Travis Anna Harvey said she planned to show the report to Utah lawmakers to lobby for tougher air-quality standards.

In the Utah Foundation's 2008 Utah Priorities Survey, voters here scored the environment as their eighth-highest concern, citing air quality and the health impacts of pollution as worries.

"Air quality is a major environmental concern for Utah," foundation officials said in the report Wednesday. "Poor air quality, exacerbated by winter and summer inversions, not only limits visibility but can be hazardous to health."

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com

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