Utah ranking in pollution report is hazy

State environmental regulators are finding a new federal report on pollution is about as clear as a smog-filled summer day in Salt Lake County.

On Wednesday, regulators were trying to figure out exactly where Utah ranks compared to other states in the amount of toxic pollutants released into the environment in 2002 — the latest for which figures are available in the Environmental Protection Agency's annual Toxic Release Inventory report.

"We don't know exactly where we stand," said Brad Johnson, director of environmental response and remediation for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "It's frustrating."

Based on DEQ's analysis, Utah appears to rank seventh in the U.S. for toxic chemicals released into the environment, behind Alaska, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Ohio and Illinois. EPA, however, ranks Utah as sixth.

Even so, it still represents a significant turnaround for Utah which typically ranks No. 2, behind Nevada, as the nation's top polluter because of all the hard-rock mining.

The bottom line is the report has everyone scratching their heads as to what it means.

In one way to look at it, Salt Lake County is the fourth most polluted county in the nation because of Kennecott. The nation's top air polluter, U.S. Magnesium, is 40th because of significant improvements to reduce its chlorine emissions.

Another fact is some 175 million pounds of pollution were released in Utah's air and land in 2002 — a 23 percent decline from 2001.

"I think the way we always look at the report is that it is just information," Johnson said. "The data gives us an idea where we are at."

In 1987, EPA began keeping track of the billions of pounds of pollution and compiled it into a report intended to provide the public with data on chemical emissions and releases.

The TRI, however, has prompted criticism from both industry, which finds the reporting requirements unfair, and environmentalists, who argue EPA is too lax.

Mining companies, like Kennecott, typically top the charts with the amounts of toxic chemicals reported. In the 2002 report, Kennecott's open pit mine in the Oquirrh Mountains ranks No. 4 out of the nation's top 50 most polluting facilities; Kennecott smelter is 15th.

But industry officials have long argued those numbers are misleading because they do not represent new toxic chemicals, simply natural rock moved from one site to another.