During the past week or so, Sen. Todd Weiler has taken to social media to make the case that the Legislature has been aggressively attacking Utah’s air quality problems, and it’s paying off in cleaner air.
Great. Maybe if we all stand around patting ourselves on the back it will dislodge some of the garbage in our lungs.
In fairness to Weiler, R-Woods Cross, who happens to be co-chairman of the Legislature’s bipartisan Clean Air Caucus, lawmakers deserve some credit, especially in recent years, when more clean air bills have passed than any previous period in state history.
On average — meaning looking at air quality for the entire year — there is less pollution, thanks overwhelmingly to cleaner cars burning cleaner gas, and also the public getting smarter about their own pollution.
But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist — or a pulmonary scientist, for that matter — to know we still have a problem, just a set of burning lungs and itchy eyes.
We have an alarming and unacceptable number of days when the air is unhealthy. The state remains in “serious” noncompliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines. The American Lung Association rated it as the sixth worst air in the country. And, as the state Department of Environmental Quality reported this month, the Salt Lake Valley is likely to remain out of compliance at least through 2024.
State economic development officials increasingly are saying that bad air is the No. 1 reason that more businesses aren’t willing to set up shop in Utah. What workers want to bring their kids to a place where they have to stay in during recess, avoid exercising outside, and wear a mask to filter out pollutants?
It is true that the Salt Lake Valley’s geography leaves the region at the mercy of weather patterns. It’s also true that the largest sources of pollution are cars. The good news is that people are recognizing that and per capita pollution has been declining. And, with newer, cleaner vehicles and new, clean gas finally arriving in Utah, tailpipe emissions should keep falling.
The bad news is that, with a rapidly growing population, we still end up with grimy air. So are we doomed to wheeze our way through the rest of our winters? One has to hope not, and there is more the Legislature can do when it convenes next week to address the issue. Here are a few:
• Last year, the House voted not to continue a state incentive to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. The program, which helped put Utah in the Top 10 in electric vehicles per capita, died by one vote — it happened to be cast by House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper. Talk is cheap, and so is the Legislature, but this is a program that makes a difference and should be renewed.
• Five counties are not meeting air quality standards. Only one — Utah County — refuses to test diesel passenger cars. It makes no sense at all, especially considering roughly one in five diesel vehicles tested in Weber County failed. Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, is sponsoring a bill to close the loophole.
• Last month, the Utah Transit Authority tried out a “free fare day” and the results were significant. An estimated 23,000 more people took public transit, removing 17,560 cars from the road and keeping 3 tons of pollutants and 200 tons of greenhouse gases from being belched into the air. The pilot cost $70,000 — that’s for everyone, not just the 23,000 additional riders. For a moderate investment, UTA could offer free fares on all red air days and help chip away at the problem when pollution is at its worst.
• Consumers who want to buy electric cars face additional problems. (The vehicles can be hard to find, because automakers are shipping so many to California and other states.) Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, is working on a bill aimed at ensuring dealers are able to keep clean cars in their inventory for Utahns.
• One proposal that has been floating in the air like a ton of PM2.5 would significantly increase the registration fees on electric and hybrid vehicles, the argument being that those cars use the roads but don’t pay the gas tax. It would be precisely the wrong way to go, discouraging the purchase of cleaner cars and pushing people back into gas burners. If the state wants to go this route, it should combine it with a pollution tax, because it’s true we all use the roads. It’s truer that we all breathe the air.
• Gov. Gary Herbert has once again requested more funding for air quality research, additional air monitoring and personnel.
We also need to stop pretending it’s just about having clean air to breathe. When Mitt Romney spoke to the Utah Economic Outlook and Policy Summit this week, one of the issues he addressed was the need to contain carbon dioxide emissions to stave off climate change.
It’s something that has been clear for years, but Utah Republicans have, by and large, refused to accept. It was, if you will, a breath of fresh air to see Romney address the topic in the context of the state’s economic future.
There will be two resolutions this session, one by Rep. Becky Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, the other by Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, acknowledging climate change is real and urging the state to take steps to address the issue. It’s time for Utah’s conservative holdouts to face facts. Like an addict, admitting we have a problem is the first step toward recovery.
We are nearing the point at which the low-hanging fruit has been plucked when it comes to improving air quality. It will take initiatives like a major statewide investment in expanded mass transit to bend the pollution curve.
But even if we think we’ve come a long way, we still have to do better. If we don’t, the growth that’s coming and the congestion that comes with it will eat away at whatever progress has been made.
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