Official Comments for Government Agencies

UPHE commented on the EPA’s proposal to change the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM. We urged them to tighten the standards beyond their current recommendations. Find the full comments here.

September 12, 2022

UPHE wrote a comment to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining on the proposed expansion of operations at Geneva Rock’s Point of the Mountain. Read them here.

February 15, 2022

UPHE wrote a comment to the Salt Lake Planning Commission in support of an ordinance change that would block a proposed mine in Parley’s Canyon. Read the comments here.

January 25, 2022

UPHE board member, Dr. John MacFarlane, wrote a letter in support of HB58, which requires surgical smoke evacuation systems. Read the letter here.

January 13, 2022

SLCMAD is renewing their permit with Utah Dept. of Environmental Quality to continue spraying pesticides over Great Salt Lake wetlands. Read our comments to Utah DEQ on why the permit should be denied here.

December 20, 2021

UPHE submitted the following comments regarding the grant of a special use permit by Ashley National Forest to allow for construction of the Uinta Basin Railway. Find our full comments here.

December 15, 2021

UPHE acted quickly to oppose a large proposed mining operation in Parley’s Canyon. We site numerous concerns regarding effects to air quality, human health, quality of life, and environmental degradation in our letter to state and local officials. Read our full letter here.

May 26, 2021

Western Resource Advocates, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, HEAL Utah and the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club have submitted comments on the Northern Wasatch Front Ozone International Transport Demonstration 179B(b). UPHE has numerous problems with the process and the intent behind seeking to avoid the emission reduction obligations required by a moderate Nonattainment Areas (NAA) designation for ozone.

Read the full comments here.

May 21, 2021

UPHE has learned that Utah Division of Air Quality (UDAQ) posted a proposed rule change that invokes section 179B(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) on May 5, with a deadline for comments of May 25 on a “Demonstration” document regarding Northern Wasatch Front (NWF) Ozone Nonattainment. UPHE has numerous problems with the process and the intent behind seeking to avoid the emission reduction obligations required by a moderate Nonattainment Areas (NAA) designation for ozone. See the full letter to UDAQ here.

June 1, 2020

UPHE head a virtual press conference calling for all our Congressional delegation and all of Utah’s elected officials to insist that EPA restore the clean car standards which would decrease vehicle pollution on the Wasatch Front. See coverage here, posted June 1, 2020.

October 2017

UPHE strongly objects to the Trump EPA’s proposed abandonment of the Obama plan for new improved fuel efficiency standards for vehicles.

October 2016

UPHE SIGNATORY ON LETTER TO EPA/HHS ON PREVENTING CHILDHOOD LEAD EXPOSURE
UPHE is a co-signatory in a call to action letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and Dept of Health and Human Services that asks for a federal strategy to prevent childhood lead exposure.

August 10, 2016

COMMENTS TO THE EPA ON THE REGIONAL HAZE RULE
UPHE opposes allowing states any further delay in installing pollution controls. Any further delay means public health is needlessly and inexcusably left unprotected. Our comments can be found here.

August 8, 2016

COMMENTS TO THE BLM ON THE PROPOSED MONUMENT BUTTE DRILLING PROJECT IN THE UINTA BASIN
UPHE has called attention to severe pollution already in the Uinta Basin from the 11,500 oil and gas wells already drilled in the area. The BLM is proposing to allow Newfield Oil to drill another 5,750 wells in the same area. A 2013 study revealed VOC levels comparable to what would be expected from 100 million cars. This is nothing less than a pollution nightmare. It would be unconscionable to allow those pollution levels get even worse.

July 23, 2016

COMMENTS TO BLM ON REFORMING THEIR DEEPLY FLAWED COAL LEASING PROGRAM
For an expanded, public review of the federal coal leasing program UPHE submitted extensive, heavily researched comments. We consider the current federal coal leasing program a highly inappropriate subsidy for coal companies, a serious undermining of Obama’s climate initiative, and a major contributor to poor public health outcomes. Our comments can be found here.

June 2016

COMMENTS TO BLM ON ENEFIT CORRIDOR
The BLM sent out to comment, their proposal to allow an Estonian state company the rights to develop a utility corridor through BLM land. Approval would be critical to this ill conceived project that would open up Eastern Utah to full scale oil shale production. If allowed, this would double the production of oil from the Uinta Basin. UPHE adamantly opposes this because of the pollution, water consumption and climate consequences.

2016

COMMENTS TO EPA CHALLENGING THE UTAH DAQ’S SIP ON CONTROLLING REGIONAL HAZE
Utah DAQ’s proposed plan to reduce regional haze did not require any new pollution controls from our major power plants. We think that’s naked capitulation to Rocky Mountain Power. DAQ had claimed that the NOx from these plants only contributed to haze in the winter, when there weren’t many tourists visiting our parks. We found out that the information they used to claim that there weren’t many visitors to our parks in the winter was in fact 12 years old. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that is no longer true. And there are a myriad of other reasons to control NOx from our major power plants. We hope the EPA listens. You may read our extensive comments here.

2015

COMMENTS TO UTAH PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ON PACIFICORP’S 2015 INTEGRATED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Having been granted the privilege to operate as a monopoly, PacifiCorp incurs the obligation to operate not just in the short-term interest of its investors, but in the long-term interests of its customers and of society at large. By clinging to a fleet of coal power plants as their dominant source of power, it is the interests of society at large that have been badly overlooked in PacifiCorp’s 2015 integrated resource plan. In blatantly ignoring the public health and climate consequences of the emissions of these plants, Pacificorp’s plan is woefully inadequate, if not outright illegal.

May 2016

COMMENTS ON FEDERAL COAL LEASING REFORM
UPHE considers the current federal coal leasing program a highly inappropriate subsidy for coal companies, a serious undermining of Obama’s climate initiative, and a major contributor to poor public health outcomes. Two UPHE members testified in person at the BLM hearing in Salt Lake City, May 19, 2016.

WASATCH FRONT MOUNTAIN ACCORD
UPHE believes that the interests of the ski resorts and real estate developers should not be given the same priority as more important considerations like aesthetic preservation, water shed protection, and other recreational uses that attract a much larger constituency, i.e. outdoor summer hiking. We oppose linking the ski resorts for that reason, and we oppose mountain transportation projects that would be far more expensive than mass transit projects in the valley that would yield a much “bigger bang for the buck.”

May 1, 2015

REGIONAL HAZE
UPHE believes that DAQ’s proposed amendments to the regional haze SIP serve only the profitability interests of Pacific Corp. the primary owner of Utah’s coal power plants, and not the long term interests of Utah’s residents. UPHE submitted these comments to Utah DAQ on their regional haze SIP proposal.

March 17, 2015

OZONE
We believe that EPA should adopt the strictest ozone rule possible, at least no higher than 60 ppb.

December 1, 2014

OBAMA CLEAN POWER PLAN
We support Obama’s clean power plan.

EPA CARBON RULE
We support EPA’s carbon rule.

EPA RULE ON WOOD BURNING APPLIANCES
We urge EPA to adopt much stricter standards for wood burning appliances.

May 22, 2014

ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER’S ATTEMPT TO CHARGE SOLAR CUSTOMERS INCREASED FEES
UPHE vigorously opposes this attempt by Rocky Mountain Power.

PERMIT FOR A NEW ASPHALT PLANT IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
UPHE has supported the effort by residents of Petaluma, Calif. to block the building of a huge asphalt plant in the middle of their community.