This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Holding off on tougher anti-smog regulations to boost the flagging economy, as President Barack Obama did Friday, doesn't sell in Salt Lake City, where leaders see air pollution as a big barrier to new business.
"Air pollution keeps companies from relocating to Utah," said Vicki Bennett, Mayor Ralph Becker's director of sustainability. "This doesn't help."
Obama's announcement arrived at the same time the national jobs report for August revealed a net gain of zero and a jobless rate stuck at 9.1 percent.
Presently, federal regulations set the limit of acceptable ozone at 75 parts per billion. But scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency say it should be reduced to 60 to 70 ppb.
The agency will revisit the issue in 2013 (after next year's presidential election), according to a letter from the White House to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
While some industry groups applauded the pullback as one that would save dollars as well as jobs, health and environmental advocates chastised the president, accusing him of playing politics and caving to polluters.
"It's really depressing," said Cherise Udell, president of Utah Moms for Clean Air. "Political pressure is trumping what's in the best interest of the public."
Udell dismissed as a fallacy the drumbeat from industry and conservative politicians that a clean environment is bad for the economy.
"It's amazing how this falsehood has been perpetuated — despite what the data says," she remarked. "Protecting the environment isn't bad for the economy. But it is bad for the economy of the polluters."
The Utah Petroleum Association welcomed Obama's decision.
"With all the other challenges we have in meeting environmental restrictions, we as an industry and state didn't need to worry about stricter standards," said Lee Peacock, the group's president. "This had the potential to be a job killer."
Politics most likely is at play in Obama's move, said Matthew Burbank, University of Utah political scientist.
"My guess is this is more about appearance than substance," Burbank said. "If the regulations did go into effect, it wouldn't have an immediate effect on jobs."
Nonetheless, it gives his opponents one less political entree as the president is poised to unveil a new jobs initiative next week.
"Obviously," Burbank said, "the issue of environmental regulation has been a big dividing line between Republicans and Democrats."
The Salt Lake Chamber agreed that air pollution is not good for business.
"Air quality is one of the top issues for the chamber and the state," spokesman Marty Carpenter said. "The president's announcement today does not change our commitment to clean air."
Holding off on stricter ozone guidelines, he said, probably will not boost the Beehive State's economy.
"We need aggressive action to the get the economy going," Carpenter said. "But we're more interested in other options that will help the Utah economy."
At the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Obama's retreat brought relief.
"This does give us some breathing room to resolve issues in rural Utah," said DEQ Executive Director Amanda Smith. If the ozone standards were lowered to 60 or 65 ppb, some locales would be out of compliance.
Either way, Smith said, Gov. Gery Herbert's administration will continue to work for clean air.
For Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Obama's stance is "dumbfounding."
Even the more stringent ozone standards the president waived, he said, would allow a dangerous level of ozone.
"There are plenty of studies that show ozone levels one-third of the current standard do damage to people's lungs," Moench said. "It's a huge disappointment and an abdication of [the president's] responsibility under the Clean Air Act."