EPA gives Utah clear warning about its polluted counties

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was notified Monday that several counties in Utah don't meet federal air-quality limits for fine particulate matter — those that are about 1/30 the size of a human hair, or smaller.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that all of Salt Lake and Davis counties, as well as portions of Weber, Box Elder and Tooele counties, were designated "nonattainment" zones. Part of Utah County and part of Cache County also failed to meet the federal standard.

The levels of the pollution particles in those counties "can be harmful and have considerable impacts on the health of Utah citizens," said Carol Rushin, a Western regional administrator for the EPA. "We will work closely with the state to define the pollution sources and to identify potential controls, in order to bring these areas back into attainment."

The state has three years to come up with a plan to remedy the problem and must achieve compliance by 2014. If the state fails to do so, it will lose federal transportation funding for interstate highways. Cheryl Heying, director of Utah Division of Air Quality, said that it could take 10 to 15 years before the state would lose that funding, however. The more immediate consequence, she said, is the damage to Utahns' health from the polluted air.

The EPA notified elected officials in 211 counties in 25 states that their air violated newly tightened daily standards for fine particles of pollution from diesel-burning trucks, power plants, wood-burning stoves and other sources. Most of the problem areas were in heavily populated counties across the Northeast and in California.

According to the American Lung Association, particle pollution can trigger heart attacks and strokes and cause irregular heartbeats, lung cancer and premature births. The pollution can also worsen serious respiratory disorders, including asthma, and it causes wheezing and coughing.

The Lung Association faulted the EPA for omitting many counties that are part of larger metropolitan areas with unhealthy levels of particulate pollution. "It's naive to act as if air pollution is trapped by the invisible lines that define our counties' borders," said Paul Billings, the association's vice president for national policy and advocacy.

Parts of Tooele and Box Elder counties received the "nonattainment" designation because they contributed to pollution in adjacent counties. But Heying said the state doesn't believe Tooele and Box Elder counties should be included in the designation, because their inclusion is based on the assumption that Tooele contributes to the Salt Lake Valley's pollution and Box Elder contributes to that in the Cache Valley.

"In our 30 years of experience, air doesn't move in our valley inversions," she said. "It's hard to translate that to people who don't know our particular area."

Cherise Udell, president and founder of Utah Moms for Clean Air, said Monday that she was glad the additional counties had been added to the EPA's list because companies that are potential contributors to the pollution are located there and will now be watched. "Thank goodness for that," she said.

The American Heart Association has estimated that badly polluted cities reduce a person's life by 1.8 to 3.1 years. Utah typically ranks among the top 10 states with the highest concentrations of air pollution.

E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com