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They might seem an unlikely group to storm Utah's halls of power to demand action on behalf of the people.

But that's exactly what Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment promised Monday, launching a campaign to cut the air pollution that is sickening Utahns and killing as many as 1,000 of them a year. Otherwise, they say, Utah's air-pollution crisis will become an air-pollution catastrophe that claims the health and the lives of people forced to breathe the bad air.

Scott N. Hurst, an LDS Hospital anesthesiologist, likened air pollution's impacts to those of smoking cigarettes.

"You and I can choose not to smoke," he said. "But we can't choose not to breathe."

Air pollution harms the most vulnerable - children whose lung function can be forever damaged, old people and those with heart and lung disease - but all Utahns feel the impact and suffer the economic impact of higher health-care costs and impaired "livability," the doctors said. They hope outraged citizens will help, as well as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who got a preview of the campaign last week.

They'll likely need it. Some of their ideas for tackling air pollution are sure to chafe some of Utah's most powerful political interests, especially the energy industry.

Topping the list of suggestions is blocking new coal plants - including four already proposed in the state - and pushing for the toughest possible controls on plants already in operation.

Tim Wagner, energy policy coordinator for the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, applauded the group's goals but warned of challenges ahead.

"They're up against a couple of major industries that have deep pockets," he said. "They're up against a Legislature that hasn't been very friendly to these issues. And they're up against a strong component of public apathy."

Brian Moench, an anesthesiologist who started the group at the end of this year's high-pollution January, says that public education and, ultimately, public involvement, backed by the science, is key to pushing the issue to the top of the policymaking agenda.

"The science tells us this is making us all sick to some degree and killing some of us," he said.

Other doctors participating in the effort include: Maunsel B. Pearce, a retired cardiovascular surgeon; Shellie J. Ring, a Salt Lake pediatrician; Gerald H. Ross, a doctor of family and environmental medicine; and Richard E. Kanner a professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah.

Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said the group has been invited to work with the Air Quality Board and regulators to look at practical solutions to the problems they raised.

Cutting pollution will require experts on both health and regulation, she said. They also will require large-scale efforts - such as the use of cleaner vehicles and cleaner fuels - as well as homespun ones - such as driving less.

Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, predicted some easy fixes, such as the doctors' suggestion that school buses be barred from idling their engines so children have less exposure to harmful diesel exhaust.

She added that, while lawmakers may not embrace some of the suggestions, like the coal-plant moratorium, many of the ideas are likely to gain the public's support and, eventually, that of lawmakers. The doctors already appear to have Huntsman's attention, she said.

"Knowing him, he will not let it drop," she said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he took the lead in some fashion."

* Q. Is Utah's air safe to breathe?

* A. Most of the time, Utah air is excellent, and its cities don't rank among the top 100 for year-round pollution nationwide. But spikes of fine-particle pollution during winter inversions and periods of ground-level ozone in the summer can make air quality deteriorate to levels considered unhealthy, based on health-based standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The best way to monitor air quality in Utah is by checking the three-day forecasts at http://www.airquality.utah.gov/.

* Q. Is local air quality getting better?

* A. By all measures, the air has gotten cleaner in the past three decades, when federal regulators set limits on the level of pollution considered safe. At the same time, more and more scientific studies show that air pollution causes serious, and often irreversible, harm to health even if someone is only exposed to episodes of it rather than a steady stream of bad air. The impacts are worst on the most vulnerable populations: the very young, the very old and people with heart and lung problems.

* Q. Then why did Salt Lake City have the most "red" air-quality days ever this winter?

* A. All the new scientific data about the dangers of pollution prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to toughen the standard for its health warnings for PM 2.5, beginning last Dec. 18. Utah had 22 days that exceeded the new standard in the winter of 2006-07. There would have been only four under the standard that was in place before Dec. 18.

Doctor Recommendations

* Moratorium on new coal plants.

* Mandatory state-of-the-art controls on existing plants.

* Reduction of speed limit to 55 mph when air pollution exceeds federal standards.

* Offering public subsidies for mass transit to encourage free ridership and expanded service.

* Aiming for a 20 percent cut in pollution emissions through the Utah Air Quality Board.