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Letter: Bad air quality forces people to leave the Salt Lake Valley

(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Antelope Island and the Oquirrh Mountains beyond poke up beyond the deteriorating air quality under inversion conditions on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, obscuring the ground below as pilot Jeff Greenland takes every opportunity to fly above the poor conditions.

I’m so very sorry to hear about Dr. Brian Moench’s health problems (“I have become a victim of the pollution I’ve been fighting,” Tribune, Aug. 18). He, more than anyone else, has warned those living along the Wasatch Front of the danger faced every day by breathing the polluted air.

I was born and raised and spent my career as a high school teacher in the Salt Lake Valley. It was there I raised my family, and it is there where most of my friends and associates still reside. It was painful to leave my lifelong home, but the awful air quality became the determining factor.

I miss Salt Lake very much and every day, but I appreciate the cleaner air of southern Utah. And, by the way, there are lots of us SLC expats here in the desert. And it’s sad to all of us to see the quality of life deteriorate in the place we love because our fearless leaders are more interested in development and economic growth that in cleaning up the air and improving the quality of life.

J.C. Smith, St. George

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