Americans need only to look at Utah to see how the Bush administration's air-pollution controls fall short, says a Washington-based advocacy group.

The U.S. Public Interest Group, in its new "Plagued by Pollution" report, notes that Utah had more days than any other state in 2004 when fine-particle soot exceeded health-based national standards. And it also had the highest onetime reading, nearly double the level allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Brad Johnson, Utah organizer for PIRG, pointed out that Utah's wintertime inversions are partly to blame for the soot-pollution spikes. But he added that nearly one-third of Americans live in areas where "particulate matter 2.5," as the stuff is officially called, becomes unhealthy.

"The politicians can't control the weather," he said, "but they can control the pollution, and that's what we should be looking to do."

When air monitors show PM2.5 is high, that means combustion byproducts one-40th the width of a human hair are building up in the air. The particles lodge deep in the lungs and are associated with a growing list of health problems, such as asthma, heart attacks and lung cancer.

In Utah, fine-particle pollution tends to build up during inversions, when layers of warm air trap cold, polluted air in northern mountain valleys for days at a time.

Last month, the Bush administration proposed tightening the PM 2.5 standard, calling concentrations of 35 micrograms per cubic liter of air "unhealthy" rather than the current 65. If adopted, the new rule would force most of northern Utah to take additional measures to reduce particulate pollution.

State regulators already have begun to look at what kinds of controls might be needed. In Utah, vehicles account for about half of the pollution, while wood-burning stoves, industry, wildland fires and other sources also play a role.

Rick Sprott, director of the Utah Division of Air Quality, discounted the group's criticism, noting that PIRG focused on short-term spikes rather than long-term trends.

Still, he added: "It's clear the pollution standard needs to be tightened."

PIRG said the Bush administration's Clear Skies program, its proposals to reduce regulation of power-plant improvements and the new PM2.5 regulation don't go far enough in protecting public health.

"This pollution is a serious health threat but the Bush administration is shirking its obligation to protect the public in order to maintain the status quo for polluters," said Johnson.

Kathy Van Dame of the Wasatch Clean Air Coalition praised the report for its careful review of research on air pollution's health effects.

She noted that news about pollution's effects on premature births and infant mortality, as the PIRG report offers, is rare.

"It's important, especially for a state like Utah, to be aware of the studies" about high particle pollution and health.

The report can be found online at www.uspirg.org.

fahys@sltrib.com