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UPHE Goals
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, recently reviewed the published data on the health effects of air pollution and have concluded that a rapid, bold response with measures to reduce pollution's threats to our health is warranted.
These bold measures include:
• All new electric energy supplies for the state of Utah should come from renewable resources.
• State-of-the-art controls on existing plants
• Reduction of the speed limit to 55mph when air pollution exceeds EPA limits
• Public subsidies for mass transit, free ridership and expanded service
• A 20% emissions reduction strategy by the Air Quality Board
• State funding for more extensive environmental monitoring;
• Strategies to increase public awareness
• Encouragement for school districts to use school buses that run on alternative fuels
• Policies that prohibit school buses should from idling in school yards while waiting for students
• Establishment of air pollution warning indices that promote the safety of pregnant women and their unborn children.
• Goal of attaining 25% renewable energy sources by the year 2020
• Educate people about the sources of pollution and their health consequences
• Provide medical expertise to organizations working on urban planning, renewable power, increasing fuel efficiencies, and transportation alternatives.
For new generation of new electric power UPHE finds that what is needed is dedication to renewable sources of energy, such as solar, wind and geothermal that does not emit child-hostile air pollutants. Current generation coal-fired power plants are a source of sulfur dioxide, PM-2.5, acid rain, and mercury. Mercury travels far and neighboring states are affected. There was a recent warning for several rivers and lakes in Utah regarding catching and eating fish because of elevated mercury levels. Yet the majority of the Utah legislature has under-funded the Division of Environmental quality in a way that endangers the health of Utah citizens. UPHE favors working to fund the Division of Environmental Quality in a way that will allow it to effectively protect the health of the citizens of Utah.
In the late 1980s, the Utah legislature passed legislation, Utah Code 19-2-106, which prohibits the Air Quality Board from making any rules more stringent than the national standard unless it makes a written finding that the national standard is not adequate to protect public health and the environment. UPHE believes the National standards for mercury and other pollutants do not adequately protect pregnant women and their unborn children, or other children in Utah.
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