This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What's happened to Utah? We annually bring our family here from California for a weeklong skiing vacation, and we are appalled at the air quality here. When we descended down the canyon from Solitude, we saw a putrid, gray layer of polluted air.
How can there be such blatant disregard for the welfare of the citizens and visitors? We come here to be outside, experience nature, and enjoy the snow, all of which are ruined by the fact that we can barely breathe here. Legislation that allows such pollution is unconscionable.
This is a completely solvable problem, as we have solved it in California. The idea that emission restrictions would be detrimental to the Salt Lake economy is ludicrous. Industry would not leave, jobs would not be lost. The draw of clean air would bring in more tourists, thus bringing in more jobs and revenue for the state.
If the current Utah legislators are not voting to better regulate emissions here, this is an embarrassment to the Republican Party. How can our party be effective, if we are seen as people who poison our own children?
Should we take our tourism dollars to Colorado?
Eric and Nina Altschuler
Redondo Beach, Calif.