Comments about ‘Scientist dissects Utah's murky winter air’

I read an article in the local news a couple off years ago on this very subject. The Study reported at that time that the majority of pollutants in the inversion came from fires in California which plagued this area long before it was settled by Immigrants. It was carbon based pollution as this study indicates though nitrates weren't given much mention. How do the nitrates from the fertilizer get into the atmosphere in February?

. . . do their part to lower pollution."

Why does that sound ominous to those of us in agriculture?

Notwithstanding the fact that Utah air quality is the best it has been since pioneer times, the EPA has come up with some artificial standards for air quality that have nothing to do with effects on human health. But they could be extremely detrimental the agricultural production.

And now we're paying a state employee to assist the EPA in shutting down agriculture in Utah?

Why?

There are more options for fertilization than ammonium nitrate. Change does not mean eminent destruction; the EPA is not trying to shut down agriculture. Clean air is essential and it is everyones responsibility.

The PSC has just decided that Questar can charge whatever they want at natural gas refueling stations. If Utah truly wants to be cleaner and greener, we need to keep natural gas for vehicles as cheap as possible to provide incentive for switching over.

So the combination of ammonia (from cow pee) and nitrates (from cow pies) produces ammonium nitrate. It is not a fertilizer that is applied. Ammonium nitrate is a chronic and severe problem mostly associated with intensive animal operations, such as CAFOs, because the pee and the pies all end up on the floor and are scraped off into a holding area by front-end loaders. Out in the pasture, there would be the obvious separation of the two waste streams.
A few years ago, a major study was undertaken by experts in chemistry, biology and economics. For Cache Valley, two 'low-hanging fruits' were found that would maximize benefits and minimize costs. First is instituting emissions testing, and for any citizen demonstrating an undue financial burden give them first dibs on State surplus autos. It was found that about 5% of cars are responsible for 45% of pollution.
Second, mandate a decrease in protein concentration fed to cattle in Animal Feeding Operations, which would save ag. money, cause no decrease in animal weight gain or milk production, and decrease amm. nitrate production by ~60%.
Problem is cajoling people into doing the right thing. Think of the children, right? The children.

To so everyone can: So that Al Gore and his fellow one world gov cronies can have a monopoly on the cattle industry duh. What do you think global warming is all about anyway? Do you really think it has anything to do with warming? If you do, I have some land in antarctica I'd like to sell you.