EPA tightens some standards, but Wasatch Front needs more to improve air quality
Utah has struggled to stay in compliance with EPA air quality standards. Instead of tightening mining, industry and vehicle emission standards, the state is trying to pass a law (SB57) which would allow Utah to ignore any federal regulation the Utah legislature finds overreaching.
The sponsor of SB57, Senator Scott Sandall, spoke on NPR about the bill, complaining that the federal government is trying to play doctor.
Well, we know a few doctors who can back up the importance of federal air quality standards. UPHE board member and ER physician, Dr. Tom Nelson, sees hospital admissions go up for respiratory illnesses and even heart attacks on bad air days.
“It’s been an issue forever,” Dr. Nelson said to NPR. “But with a booming population and industry and exhaust, and now the potential for these dust storms from the Great Salt Lake, we’re making a known problem much, much worse.”
The air quality issue is personal for Dr. Nelson, as it is for many of us. His four year old son has to be hospitalized often on bad air days due to pre-existing health problems. And the illnesses seem to get worse when the Salt Lake Valley is cloaked in a winter inversion.
The EPA recently tightened soot (PM2.5) standards, but did not tighten the 24 hour standard, which means us along the Wasatch Front will receive very little benefit because the episodic pattern of our air pollution is exactly what the 24 hour standard was meant to address.