Comments about ‘Air standards ever changing’

Blackmail and greed are right there at the top of our legislators concerns rather than the problem or a solution. The legislators would spend $20M to get $10M in federal aid. Sometimes you have to pass up a costly "freebie" to keep your sanity.

The real problem in air quality in the valley is government greed, over population, and over development. Either this state must get smart and stop being greedy or get rid of residents, I prefer over 100,000 illegals being harbored by state government.

Now with so much at stake in federal bribery funds the state is in a panic to get ridiculous in their demands and blame it on individuals. How do you overcome a natural event of the inversion this valley has had before Bro Brigham stepped foot off the mountain?

The only way it would ever become a clean inversion is to eliminate the population. Or, move commercialism and industry and the population out of the valley. Decentralize it all and they may get somewhere as they move the problem somewhere else.

It all boils down to greed.

How many times to liberals have to be told?
There ain't a dang thing wrong with our air!
It smells good and looks purty.

And it will only get worse as Utah expects a big population explosion, mostly self-produced, in the next 20 years.

What Utah needs to think about is how to keep our air healthly for the living GIVEN the unique geography and natural conditions we face and work within those parameters to develop both short-term (e.g., no idling days) and long-terms solutions (e.g., designing communities to be less car dependent).

Some counties have virtually no emission standards for cars. Incentives need to be made for people to buy hybrid cars that no only get great gas mileage, but also emit significantly fewer pollutants.

All this blaming Mother Nature for our air quality problems gets us nowhere.

The issue is not the reasons for the fowl air, whether it be man-caused or caused by nature. No, the issue is the risk to human health. This consideration is the reason the for shifting standards, i.e. changing and improving risk assessments. When I'm out riding my bike I don't want to be endangering my health by breathing Wasatch Front air; I don't care much whats making it dangerous - I just want it remedied. The state would be well advised to get with the EPA program and quit the foot-dragging. In the meantime we need to use mass transit as much as possible.

Population explosion | 7:01 a.m.

What counties have "no emission standards for cars"???

I hope you can name them. Because I thought annual State Vehicle Emission Inspections was a STATE law, not a County Law.



PS.
I agree that just blaming it on nature gets us nowhere. But we aren't just blaming nature. We're working hard to drive less and change our life style and habbits to help.


IGNORING the Nature Component of the problem also gets us nowhere. It's obviously there, and obviously a factor that NEEDS to be considered when comming up with effective soultions.

ALL factors need to be taken into account and thought about when discussing the best ways to solve our problems (including the factors NATURE and seasonal conditions contribute to the problem). But of course population and behavior are the things we can control most, so they are what we are working on. But just ignoring nature doesn't solve the problem and would be unwise. Maybe we can find a way to work WITH Nature to solve the problem.

Since when has air quality and citizen health had anything to do with liberal vs. conservative? I just want to breathe - and I'm pretty conservative!

SUV = 8 mpg
vs.
Toyota Prius = 51 mpg
Honda civic = 45 mpg
Ford Fusion = 41 mpg
VW Jetta = 42 mpg


Do you really need a gas guzzler?
All day - Every day - all season - all year??
[honestly?!]

Enough said.

Are you from around here?

50 years ago, our air WAS bad. I survived. So did most others. The sky didn't fall. We just worked together to make needed changes.

Now our air is much better. It no longer smells like coal clinkers or makes your eyes sting, your nose burn, and your throat taste like sulphur.

But we're not supposed to notice the improvement. That would place your "crisis" in perspective.

And we can't work together anymore to make any small tweaks that may still be necessary, since politically-motivated activists need a bogeyman to demonize.

Today, activists insist that their gullible acolytes run in circles, wringing their hands and wetting their beds, making shrill demands that politicians save us from whatever newly discovered climate crisis now threatens our imminent and certain destruction. And every new crisis demands immediate, unthinking, emergency action amounting to a new attack on our freedom and prosperity.

If you are from aound here, Lew, your ancestors aren't happy with you.

Parenthetically, you endanger your health much more riding your bike than breathing our air.

point "A" to point "B" | 8:23 a.m.

What SUV gets 8 mpg??? REALLY???



I hope you can name it, because it doesn't exist to the best of my knowledge.

Even a Hummer (which only rich leftist celebrity snobs drive) get's more than 8 mpg.

According to the Edmunds Carspace site the H3 gets gets 16-18 mpg. The H1 (GMs biggest) gets 13 mpg (Car and Driver said their test-drive got 10 mpg so you are close on this one EXTREME example). I know that's not great, but does SUV=Hummer? Using an exageration of the most extreme example to represent all SUVs???

And who really even drives a Hummer now days anyway??? They do make hybrid SUVs that get better milage than most sedans you know.

Hint... Drop the hype-based rhetoric and stick to factual arguements if you want people to listen and learn from what you say.


Not ALL SUVs are evil.

To Lew | 8:30 a.m. Feb. 9, 2010
Are you from around here?

50 years ago, our air WAS bad.
===========

It's still bad, just not AS bad.

I believe in Eternal perfection, and Eternal PROGRESSION.

I want to look God in the eye and say, YES, I did EVERYTHING possible to make the world a better place.

I was given 5 talents, and I give thee 10 talents. - good and faithful servant.

Understand where I'm going with this??

~LDS Tree-Hugger

While I am all for seat belts and always buckle up mey kids. Making laws to where I can't even drive my kids friend home from school without a seat belt or take my childrens friends with us to the movie because we don't all fit in our Prius. Maybe you should have taken these things into consideration before making such strict laws.
Everyone knows children need to be buckled, but let us use our own discretion instead of making such strict laws that we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

Forget the Feds. Move beyond their continually changing minimums. Let's do what it takes to clean Utah's air....and water as well. They don't live here.

Example....Utah Lake is a jewel waiting to go on stage. Can you imagine what would happen if someone with a little imagination got hold of Utah Lake? Wow!! The lake would look beautiful, Utah County would become a tourist destination, the money would roll in that we can't seem to find to pay for what the State needs, etc., etc.

But what do we do? Complain. Even regarding a private company that wants to pay to make Utah Lake and it's surrounding better.

I'm so glad we moved from SLC. I recall when I would return to see family they were so glad smog devices weren't required in Utah. They feared their cars would be under powered if smog was required. Smog technology won out. Cars improved with this technology.

If you think the air is bad, image what you would be breathing of conservative Utahns had won out.

is the problem. Converting gas cars to CNG will increase the NOX, and this may increase PM2.5 during the winter.

It is going to be very tough to meet the new standard. The airshead will need to export its combustion to non-inverted areas, and import the electricity. It will be interesting watching what is needed to be below 35.

What "earnest efforts" has our legislature made that were not forced on them by the national government? Name one, please? Isn't it true that our leg has fought every single clean air standard tooth and nail since day one?

LDS tree huggers should understand that there are more than your 5 talents out there.

If you spend all your time and effort on your tree hugging and your other "progressive" ideals, what happens to other important talents? Like jobs, decent wages, decent housing, practicable transportation, reasonable taxes, and reasonable prices for goods and services?

You know, civilization?

Therein lies your problem -- balance.

You want the government to hug all trees -- NOW!

You want the government to clean all air -- NOW!

You want the government to educate all children as liberals -- NOW!

You want the government to enforce love for all animals -- NOW!

You want the government to enforce tolerance for all LGBT -- NOW!

You want the government to protect and pay for all abortions -- NOW!

Etc.

Most of all, you want all freedoms curtailed and all taxes raised to enable and pay for all your goofy, faddish tree hugging and "progressive" ideas -- NOW!

In the REAL world, there is neither inclination nor money to do all those things -- now. Maybe never.

I fear your radicalism will ensure you end up with no talents.

"If you spend all your time and effort on your tree hugging and your other "progressive" ideals, what happens to other important talents? Like jobs, decent wages, decent housing, practicable transportation, reasonable taxes, and reasonable prices for goods and services?"

We have employed engineers to develop smog and air pollution mitigation systems. We have more cars today than in 1963 when smog devices were first implemented with PVC value.

We have wind generation that gives farmers another income stream. We have heating that while producing less pollution uses less energy saving you money. Adding insulation and retro fixing homes created jobs and new businesses.

Thanks to the regressive agenda, Germany leads the world in solar power and America must buy wind generators from China.

@To "Progressive" | 10:07 a.m

Though I don't want those statements in the loaded form you convey (ie the only faction that insists the govt do all those things are conservatives trying to perpetuate a fallacy of liberal stigmas), those are all essential to a civilization. Indeed, protection of the environment, cleaning the air, educating our children, teaching respect for other inhabitants of the earth, ensuring equal rights for all, and allowing women the constitutionally protected right to choose are all imperative to the American civilization.

Such a civilization will create jobs (green tech), increase wages (equal pay for equal work), provide decent housing (improving air quality and environmental surroundings), provide practicable transportation (public = less cars on the road so less traffic/damage to thoroughfares), lower taxes (if people like you didn't resist, legislation would not be needed), and provide reasonably priced goods/services (buying local would be cheaper if practiced on a larger scale while simultaneously cutting pollution b/c less trucks shipping crosscountry, not to mention healthier goods - so lower medical expenditures).

To be sure, the only people who 'rely' on the government for said changes seem to be the resisting conservatives.

The reason whe have to buy our wind turbines from China is that "progressive" unions have priced American tradespeople out of the market.

Oh Please | 9:57 a.m.

How about "No Burn Days" when the particulates are above certain levels. I don't know if that came from the legislature, but we have them.

How about "No Drive Days" when the air is in the red zone. I don't know if that came from the legislature, but we have them.

Are you saying our efforts are not draconian enough for you?

I don't know if these were mandated by the Feds, but they are ALL things we are doing here in Utah to help on bad air days.



BTW...
What does the LEGISLATURE have to do with this???

Do you need the legislature to tell you how to live? When you can drive? To tell you what to do? To mandate and legislate your life? I don't.