Utah’s dirty air
In the bleak midwinter
A fast-growing state contends with a toxic mix of geography and industry
THE Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains glowed majestically under the winter sun, while the wide avenues of Salt Lake City spread pleasingly below; the view from Utah’s state capitol on January 25th was frustratingly good. Frustrating because 4,000 locals had given up their Saturday afternoon to protest against the filthy air they are forced to breathe each winter. Against a sea of signs bearing slogans like “Utah’s air is worse than my brother’s farts”, speaker after speaker urged politicians to clamp down on industrial polluters and boost public transport. Some said it was the state’s biggest protest in recent history.
For much of the year Utah’s air is crisp and clean. But in winter the mountainous geography of the Wasatch Front, an 80-mile north-south corridor in northern Utah, creates “inversions”, when warm high-pressure systems trap a layer of cold air and keep particulates in place. The problem is not new: the fire-burning tribes that once lived there are said to have called the front “Smoke Valley”.
But today 2.2m Utahns, three-quarters of the state’s population, live along the front, driving cars, heating homes and consuming energy. And the Wasatch Front is one of America’s fastest-growing areas. So far this winter in Salt Lake and Davis counties there have been 29 “mandatory action” air days, on which burning coal and wood is banned and cars are discouraged. On some days, and by some measures, Salt Lake City is smoggier than Beijing.
Particulate pollution raises the risk of heart attacks and lung disease. (Some claim a link with autism, though that is less well documented.) So parents keep children indoors, and businesses struggle to recruit from other states. Local newspapers are full of pollution horror stories. Countless clean-air advocacy groups have sprung up. Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City’s mayor, devoted his entire 2014 state-of-the-city address to the problem.
Legislators in business-friendly Utah are wary of regulation, but this year they have taken heed: over a dozen bills dealing with air quality have been proposed. On January 29th Gary Herbert, the governor, pledged to speed adoption of cleaner petrol and to clamp down on wood-burning stoves. Still, one legislator recently said Utahns should be better at “owning the problem”, and that is a message many do not want to hear.
Two-thirds of Utahns want to see tighter curbs on industrial polluters, such as a Rio Tinto copper mine and five oil refineries. To advocates’ disgust, a state pollution-reduction plan allows for a 12% increase in “point” (industrial) emissions by 2019, while calling for big cuts from vehicles, small businesses and homes.
Yet industrial sources account for only about 15% of particulate emissions; vehicles are responsible for over half. Cars have become cleaner and, thanks to federal regulations, will continue to do so. Moreover, the mine and refineries emit less than they once did. The state’s winter air remains terrible, but it has been slowly improving over the past 20 years.
So why are people only getting upset now? Partly because the past two winters have been so severe. Partly because non-industrial firms, such as those in the state’s growing technology sector, are worried. And perhaps partly because thanks to demographic changes Utah, especially Salt Lake City, is not quite the conservative bastion it once was.