This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I was encouraged by the article on Gov. Gary Herbert's Utah Clean Air Partnership ("Utah governor makes clean air his top priority," Tribune, Feb. 1). With Utah's growing population and industry, there is no doubt that our winter inversions are becoming dramatically worse every year. It is paramount that we reverse that trend.
I deem it ironic, however, that at his U-CAIR news conference, Herbert was standing next to both an electric car and a compressed-natural-gas vehicle. Why ironic? Because the CNG vehicle qualifies for a whopping $2,500 tax incentive, yet the EV only a paltry $605.
Such inequity undermines the goals of Herbert's U-CAIR initiative. After all, EVs now head the Environmental Protection Agency's top 10 clean vehicles:
Is the purpose of Utah's clean-fuel tax incentives to support U-CAIR? Or merely to subsidize Questar Gas?
To truly embrace the governor's initiative, the Legislature needs to put an end to such favoritism, and award EVs the same $2,500 incentive as CNG vehicles.
Mark D. Larsen
Ivins