Still time to act on Curtis’ resolution to weaken air quality
UPHE’s Dr. Brian Moench had an Op-Ed in Utah News Dispatch giving more detail on why Senator Curtis’s S.J. Resolution 31 is a really bad idea.
In short, this resolution overturns critical EPA protections that limit toxic air pollution from refineries and chemical plants, many of which are along the Wasatch Front and across the state of Utah.
Dr. Moench starts his op-ed with an explanation of the EPA classification of “Major Sources.”
“Oil refineries, petro-chemical plants and pesticide manufacturers commonly emit a long list of 188 toxic chemicals the EPA classifies as HAPs (hazardous air pollutants). Polluters that annually emit more than 25 tons of these deadly compounds in combination, or 10 tons of a single HAP, are classified as “Major Sources” by the EPA. If that seems like a lot for toxins that are dangerous in micrograms, that’s because it is. For example, plutonium and other radionuclides are HAPs and ten tons of plutonium inhaled along the Wasatch Front would kill millions of people many times over, so let’s not get overexcited about how much protection this EPA rule offers. But Sen. Curtis wants even less.
“The fossil fuel industry didn’t run to Curtis to reverse the rule because they were desperate to preserve good science and our environment. This is the same industry that for over 50 years has lied and deceived the public about the climate crisis that their own scientists proved they were causing. They didn’t run to the Trump administration because they had been thwarted in their eternal quest to improve global health. This is the same industry that has fought every pollution rule ever made by the EPA. This is the plastics industry that doesn’t care one iota about how they are drowning the planet in microplastics or that the critical organs of most people on earth are now contaminated with their nanoparticles laden with toxic chemicals. These companies don’t invest in reducing harmful emissions unless they’re forced to. There was no mountain of altruistic investments that were being stymied by the rule Curtis is determined to reverse.
“Sen. Curtis apparently has no idea what good science is and his acting as handmaiden to the fossil fuel industry reveals he has no interest in what is good governance. His bill is a gift to the fossil fuel/petrochemical industry and everyone who lives and breathes along the Wasatch Front will pay for it. Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment joins major national environmental groups in condemning Curtis’s resolution.”
Read the full Op-Ed, and then call Utah’s House members and tell them to vote NO on Sen. Curtis’s S.J. Resolution 31. They will likely be voting soon!
Rep. Blake Moore (801) 625-0107
Rep. Celeste Maloy (801) 364-5550 (Bountiful office)
Rep. Burgess Owens (801) 999 9801
Rep. Mike Kennedy (801) 607-3238