Utah’s population reached 3 million in 2017 and is expected to grow to 4 million in 2032. By 2065, Salt Lake and Utah counties are projected to house 3.3 million, a huge concentration in the center of the Wasatch Front airshed (Kem Gardner Institute Research Brief, July 2017).
With all good intentions and pages of recommendations by government elected officials and agency directors, and such civic minded organizations like Envision Utah, eight Utah counties (Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, Tooele, Weber, Box Elder, Uinta and Cache) have at one time or another failed recently to meet healthy air quality standards for a variety of pollutants (mainly ozone, 2.5PM, VOCs, NOX).
In 1990, Gov. Norman Bangerter formed an Air Quality Commission, which published a 75-page report with recommendations to improve air quality, very few of which have been advanced today. And legislative initiatives are not encouraging. Only this year Utah County is required to begin testing for diesel emissions and that only a pilot program. Diesel emissions are the most polluting of any tailpipe exhaust.
One recommendation was expansion of mass transit, particularly rail. Where are we 28 years later? In reverse: UTA scandals have engendered little public confidence to pay for more rail, and UDOT is on a tear to get more cars on the road.
The narrative by Utah leaders that “the air is cleaner now than it ever was” is a distraction to the current reality. The reality now is that we have unacceptable air quality for every category of those affected at one time or another: children, sensitive, healthy and the aged. Today’s reality: “The air was very dirty then and is only dirty now.”
It must be clear to Utahns that the airshed along the Wasatch Front from southern Utah County to Cache County is full. That is, without any consideration of growth, we are at the limit. Growth and massive commercial/industrial projects such as the Inland Port will likely put us over the top indefinitely.
Another concern for Utahns not reported publicly by Utah agencies is the over 650 toxic chemicals released into the air, soils, and groundwater stated by the EPA in the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Of these at least 187 are hazardous air pollutants. Releases are chemicals that cause cancer or other chronic human health effects, have significant adverse acute human health effects, and have significant adverse environmental effects. A 2015 TRI inventory puts Utah at about the third most toxic state and noted that Salt Lake County is the number two county in the nation for toxic releases.
Given this air, water, and soil toxic environment, Utah counties and cities need to come together to address this issue for us to approach livable conditions. The silo approach taken now, this county or that county acting alone, this project or that project discussed in isolation, will not solve the regional problem; pollutants move across political boundaries and project footprints. In my thirteen years of studying toxic issues in Utah, I recommend that, at a minimum, these principles serve as a guide for a livable Utah:
1. Public transit before more roads;
2. Non-polluting energy sources for commercial and residential facilities (solar, wind, geothermal);
3. LEED building codes for new commercial construction and retrofit existing buildings;
4. High density residential development;
5. Commercial and residential xeriscape;
6. Residential, commercial, and industrial uses must have a net-zero pollution effect re: the criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide, lead, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide), and the toxic releases noted in the TRI;
7. Remove oil refineries and major power generation plants from the airshed;
8. Close the gravel pits;
9. End storage of toxic wastes and fossil fuels in the metro areas;
10. Remediate mining operations (e.g., tailings, groundwater quality); and,
11. Review pollution inputs in these counties which may require ceasing or mitigating such sources.
While not all inclusive, these lay the foundation for a clean corridor from Spanish Fork to Logan with similar guidelines for contiguous counties. This will require a coming together of cities and counties to reach a Clean Corridor Master Plan which needs to happen sooner than later.
Terry Marasco is proprietor of Natural Resource Project Management and leads the Snake Valley Citizens Alliance. He is also coordinator of the Utah Clean Air Alliance and lives near the crude oil pipeline crossing City Creek.
Terry Marasco, Salt Lake City, is a businessman and community activist.