Public, businesses can weigh in on air quality changes

SALT LAKE CITY  — The Utah Air Quality Board is weighing a number of changes to industry, residences and small businesses as the state tries to come up with a plan to meet federal guidelines for reducing fine particulate pollution, or PM2.5

Four of those changes — dealing with commercial cooking, creating blowing dust plans, establishing outdoor wood boiler prohibitions and implementing rules for degreasing/solvent cleaning operations — are up for public comment through Aug. 31 and separate public hearings are being held to explain the proposals and solicit input.

Those meetings, at the Department of Environmental Quality's fourth floor conference room at 195 N. 1950 West, are scheduled Aug. 15  at the following times: 9 a.m., for degreasing and solvent cleaning operations; 10 a.m. for commercial cooking; 1 p.m. for fugitive dust plans in non-attainment areas; and 2 p.m. for outdoor wood boiler prohibitions.

The rules, which have been approved by the air quality board to receive public comment but not formally adopted, are available to review online, which also provides a forum for feedback.

Four other rules are tentatively slated to go to public comment from September to October and deal with appliance pilot lights and residential fireplaces and solid fuel burning. Those rules, too, are available online.

A handful of other proposed rules not yet released for public inspection remain in the crafting stage as part of the state's efforts to adopt and implement a State Implementation Plan required by the EPA.

The board expects a draft of the plan to be reviewed by next month, and the deadline for final approval is Dec. 14.

To review the rules, see

http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Public-Interest/Public-Commen-Hearings/Pubrule.htm

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