US Magnesium is responsible for 10 to 25% of winter inversion PM2.5
New research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has identified bromine emissions from US Magnesium Corp operations are responsible for 10-25% of the typical winter inversion pollution that plagues the Wasatch Front. This makes US Magnesium the “single largest driver of Utah’s air quality troubles,” the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
This is the same company who applied to extend their canals and remove 100,000 gallons of water a minute from the critically low Great Salt Lake. Thankfully, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently rejected that application.US Magnesium demonstrated with that application they are not concerned with the health of the 2.4 million people who live along the Wasatch Front. Residents are facing drastically diminished air quality from the shrinking levels of the lake, as it is.
What is bromine? Click here to learn more. Bromine is an oxidizing agent that acts as a catalyst for the chemical reactions that form PM2.5. Mag Corp emits 2.5 million pounds of bromine a year. More specifically, bromine radicals react with nitrogen oxides, ammonia and organic compounds emitted from other sources in sunlight to form ammonium nitrate, a major component of PM2.5. Bromine is not currently required to be reported, even though it forms PM2.5.
More than 70% of PM2.5 in the Wasatch Front’s inversion is actually composed of chemical compounds that are formed in the atmosphere, as opposed to pollution directly released into the air, the Tribune article reported.