Park City's air quality worries mothers group

The vulnerable but still relatively clean air that tourists and new homeowners breathe in Park City may pose a risk of hurting the area's economy if efforts aren't made to track pollution and keep it from getting worse, two members of a watchdog group told state regulators Wednesday.

Kathy Lofft, co-founder of the Park City chapter of Utah Moms for Clean Air, asked members of the Utah Air Quality Board for more collaboration between her group and the state Division of Air Quality. Division director Cheryl Heying agreed to Lofft's request.

Lofft and chapter co-founder Mary Jacquin painted a picture for the board of a robust economy in Park City, where they said people move from Los Angeles and Salt Lake City for the cleaner air. But Jacquin said Park City may already be gaining a "reputation" for having dirty air, which she said needs to be tracked for its sources if efforts to clean up the air are going to work.

Results from previous air monitoring in the area, while not showing dangerous or unacceptable levels of pollutants by state and federal standards, were enough to raise a few eyebrows with the Utah Moms group.

State officials noted that the air-quality study last winter was a temporary one-time collaboration between the Division of Air Quality and the Summit County Department of Health. Heying pointed out that each air-monitoring station costs about $125,000 and that her division, with its limited budget, receives several requests annually around the state to conduct air-quality tests.

Department of Environmental Quality director Rick Sprott singled out wood-burning fireplaces as a source of air pollution in Park City. He also warned that a request to state lawmakers by Utah Moms for additional funds for air monitoring in Park City will be in competition with initiatives like funding dental care for poor children.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com