Letter: Utah's poor air quality isn't necessarily Utah's fault

I would like everyone who is concerned about the quality of air along the Wasatch Front to take a good look outside while our air is coming from the northwest. That pollution in our valleys is not ours. It's coming from fires in Washington and Oregon. Now think about it. When winter comes and we get a flow from the northwest, whose air are we getting? Could it be from Seattle and Portland? What if the flow is from the west. Could we be getting air from San Francisco and Oakland? What about air from the south? Los Angeles maybe?

The point is we're being castigated by the EPA and groups like Physicians for Clean Air for having dirty air. Our air is dirty, but it isn't clean when we get it. No matter how many cars and trucks we remove from our streets, no matter how many industries we shut down, the air will still be dirty here unless we can find a new source of supply.

We live in a settling basin for air pollutants. There's only so much we can do.

George Hawkins

Bountiful