Air pollution made Young Han rethink a move from Seattle to Salt Lake City last winter. A runner and biker, he opted instead for Washington, D.C.
But now he has taken a job at a nonprofit in Utah's capital city, and he wonders why the air pollution is still so bad.
"I'm surprised local authorities haven't done more to improve air quality," he said. "It's very concerning."
Han's frustration is shared by newcomers and old-timers alike, and for good reason. The very air we have to breathe to live is also making us sick.
So, spells of nasty air -- along with the strained breathing, stinging sinuses and other health problems they bring -- have catapulted air quality to the top of the public agenda.
"This is what you call a grass-roots effort," said Bill Love.
The Moab retiree is among those petitioning Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to appoint a new director for the Department of Environmental Quality who will crack down on air pollution.
State regulators are mobilizing, too. They've heard the public outcry. They also face new, tougher air-quality standards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Last month, the Utah Division of Air Quality began a three-year process to update the "State Implementation Plan" to cut fine-particle pollution in northern Utah.
Utah's unique problem
Solving the problem won't be simple, cheap or fast.
One reason is that Utah's problem is unique.
Wintertime pollution spikes in northern valley basins are closely tied to factors over which the regulators have no influence -- the weather and the landscape.
The basins are like bowls, and when high pressure rolls in, it's like lids of warm air are sealing the bowls. Without wind, like a breeze off an ocean, a gale over a plain or a gust from a storm, there's nothing to blow out the pollution. Without currents moving up and down between the upper and lower layers of atmosphere, the lid stays intact. Plus, snow prevents the soil from warming the air from the ground up.
That means the pollution pumped out of car and truck tailpipes, the fumes from industrial stacks and the heating emissions from homes and businesses -- all of it remains trapped as long as the high pressure sticks around. And worse, the fine soot reacts in the air to make even more pollutants.
Cheryl Heying, director of Utah's Air Quality Division, said that means Utah won't have the luxury of grabbing a ready-made pollution-control plan from some other place. Instead, Utah will have to develop a custom-made solution as unique as its problem.
"You don't get a pass [because of unusual geography and weather], and we don't want a pass," said Heying. "The bottom line is we have to meet these standards by this time frame."
Pollution-reduction deadline on horizon
EPA has given Utah and other states three years to come up with plans to reduce PM 2.5 pollution -- the tiny particles that can lodge deep in lungs. Counties from the Idaho border to Utah County must be part of the cleanup plan, the EPA has said.
Until now, all Utah counties met EPA's limits on fine particles -- some, such as Cache County, just barely. It was quite a feat because the state was growing dramatically yet still not quite becoming too polluted -- at least in EPA's estimation.
Controls already in place have kept the Wasatch Front under the line.
For instance, some industrial plants switch over to cleaner natural gas from coal or oil during the winter, and others shut down pollution-producing facilities altogether.
Residents of the high-pollution counties -- Utah, Salt Lake, Davis and Weber -- must have their cars inspected to make sure they run clean. Plus, residents of those counties and Cache County are prohibited from using fireplaces and wood stoves during "red" air-quality days. They are urged on those days to adopt "Choose Clean Air" strategies to minimize pollution in the dirtiest periods.
National clean-air regulations also have played a role. Catalytic converters have cleaned up vehicle exhaust. Diesel fuel now emits less soot.
"The state has a good program," said Callie A. Videtich, director of the air and radiation program in EPA's Denver region. "It's just going to have to make deeper cuts."
How to get there
If Utah fails to bring pollution in line over the next three years, the EPA could withhold highway funding and order other measures to make sure the air becomes healthier.
It won't be easy. But the state's air experts are already working on a few ideas.
One example: Environmental experts are developing computer models that will give them a clearer picture of the airborne culprits that drive the pollution build-up.
This would allow the state to enact regulations or impose controls on the specific chemicals that cause a chain reaction that causes more and more pollution.
"We have continually met the challenge," said Heying. "This time it will be hard. It's going to be really hard."
No doubt, northern Utah businesses and residents will be called upon to help cut pollution.
It's likely that every industrial facility with a pollution allowance will have its permit reviewed in search of additional emission reductions.
But, since transportation is blamed for about half of northern Utah's pollution, ordinary people have a role to play, too.
For instance, it's likely that more counties -- including Cache, Box Elder and Tooele -- will have to join the vehicle-inspection program to weed out high-pollution cars and trucks.
Meanwhile, many concerned Utahns are taking on a role. They are pressing legislators for tougher laws, stricter enforcement and fighting budget cuts that already have reduced the air-quality division's staff by three in the past two years. Hundreds showed up at a recent Division of Air Quality hearing to fight a new power plant proposed for West Bountiful.
The Utah Moms for Clean Air has promoted a clean school-bus program. And, during last month's inversion, it sent out an e-mail urging members to shovel their walkways, instead of using gas-burning -- and high-polluting -- snowblowers.
"An informed public is our best ally," said Cherise Udell, who founded the group after bad inversions two years ago.
Meanwhile, Han, who is about to move to Utah, is struggling with a personal calculus of his own. Should he live in the city and risk his health? Or does he live in Summit County, where the clean air will spare his lungs, but his commute will contribute to the problem?
"It will be a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "Just a balancing act in my mind."
