Letter: Utah industry has several major polluters impacting air quality and carbon emissions
Tribune file photo
Tesoro is Utah’s largest refinery.
In the midst of challenges with pollution including the winter inversion and climate change with summer wildfires and drought, Utah industry has several major polluters impacting air quality and carbon emissions. A review of data from Climate TRACE shows that just in the refineries of North Salt Lake, the Tesoro Refinery contributes 627 kilotons of greenhouse gasses annually (627,000 tons/year); the Chevron refinery 674 ktons/year; BigWest oil 315 kilotons/year; and HollyFrontier refining, 416 kilotons/year. These four refineries alone are equivalent to the entire combined carbon emissions from all of the rest of the Salt Lake County businesses and people.
More information, including sites and names across the intermountain west, is at: https://climatetrace.org/map
Josh Bonkowsky, Salt Lake City
Submit a letter to the editor
sltrib.com is now free to access — no subscription required. We made this decision because we believe access to trustworthy, independent news shouldn’t depend on what you can afford — especially as misinformation and AI-generated content continue to rise.
Free to read doesn’t mean free to produce. Our reporters show up every day to ask hard questions and hold powerful institutions to account. That work takes resources. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on support from people who believe it matters. Make a donation today to fund local news that serves Utah communities.
You can help us bring more local news to more communities today.