The new regional boss of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expressed his faith that the state of Utah has the capacity to clean up its own air, and that it will proceed to do so without the heavy hand of the federal government upon it.
We will, see. Literally.
Because further failure to take the particles and other pollutants out of the air along the Wasatch Front will be obvious to all of our eyes.
There is reason to hope that it is not just Republican/libertarian dogma that causes new EPA Region 8 Administrator Doug Benevento to see his role as offering encouragement, not punishment, as Utah’s elected officials and environmental experts figure out how to get the seasonal gunk out of the air that we, sometimes with considerable effort, breathe.
Benevento worked for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for six years ending in 2005 — the last three years as director of the department.
The Denver Post reports that his tenure there was controversial at times, but he was widely credited, including by Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, for making great progress in cleaning up air-quality problems that long bedeviled Denver and surrounds.
It was through cooperation with industrial and other sources of air pollution, Benevento said, that Colorado’s Front Range was able to make enough progress to bring the area into compliance with federal standards.
If he can provide Utah assistance as it does the same along the Wasatch Front, that would be an accomplishment indeed.
Benevento should not, however, go too far in being a friend, lest it result in his becoming an enabler. Without the knowledge that federal regulations are there, and that they will be enforced, there seems to be far too little in the Utah political will to do anything more than talk about our noxious air.
What gains have been made are largely due to federal rules governing auto fuel efficiency and fuel makeup. The coming of what’s called Tier 3 fuels, if state officials can cajole the local refiners into producing enough of it for local consumption, promises to make more progress still.
As Gov. Gary Herbert is often heard to say, the solution to our air quality problems is not any single thing. More people need to take more responsibility for doing things such as driving less, taking transit more, doing without wood-burning fireplaces and installing everything from more insulation to more efficient water heaters.
But one man’s public-spirited sacrifice is another man’s don’t-tread-on-me. Solving this problem will require real rules, with real consequences.
If they can be agreed upon, written and enforced locally, that would be wonderful. If not, we need the EPA looking over our collective shoulder. That’s what it is for.