Protecting clean air: How Utahns are tackling the air quality issue

Protecting clean air: How Utahns are tackling the air quality issue

(Carter Williams, KSL.com)


8 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A group of people circled around Carl Moore as he stood in the center of a Trolley Square atrium Saturday.

Moore, a chairperson of the SLC Air Protectors and Pandos and a native of Hopi and Chemehuevi tribes, fervently explained why air quality matters not just to those attending the Utah Clean Air Solutions Fair, but to everyone living in the state.

“We can look at human rights as human rights and environmental rights as a separate thing, but, essentially, they’re the same thing because all of us live in the environment and we all deserve clean air,” he told the crowd before leading them in a Native American prayer.

The annual fair, organized by CATALYST Magazine five years ago, brought together more than a dozen vendors from various backgrounds. Some vendors promoted alternative energy solutions, such as solar energy, while others promoted land protection, or even alternative transportation (a 2017 study by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality found that nearly half of Utah's pollution comes from automobiles).

In all, a few hundred people funneled through the fair booths throughout the day, learning ways to improve the air quality around them. It was the capstone to a week of events hosted by CATALYST to promote clean air solutions.

“Everyone has their part to play; everybody has their specialties,” Moore said about the wide-ranging ideas promoted at the fair. “(But) we’re for one cause, which is for clean air."

The two organizations Moore belongs to focus on a Native American stewardship approach, he said, including protection of native lands from federal or state-approved drilling. However, he encouraged each side of the discussion to bring their own unique ideas to the table.

The fair occurred during one of the more pivotal times in air quality for Utahns, where inversions happen more frequently. Pollution is trapped underneath these inversions and remains there until a front comes through and cleans out the inversion.

Attendees at the Utah Clean Air Solutions Fair at Trolley Square on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)
Attendees at the Utah Clean Air Solutions Fair at Trolley Square on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)

It also comes ahead of Utah’s 2018 Legislative Session, in which improving air quality will likely be topic up for discussion once it begins Monday. Air quality was also one of the issues brought up during Salt Lake Chamber's annual Economic Outlook and Public Policy Summit Tuesday.

Utah lawmakers at the summit pointed toward previous legislation that includes ensuring water heaters that produce fewer emissions are in place by the end of 2018, and that state refineries are switching to Tier 3 fuels by 2020. Air quality regulators previously said they believe 70 percent of vehicle emissions will be eliminated once the conversion to Tier 3 fuels is in full swing.

“There’s nothing anyone in this room can do to get rid of the inversions. They were here before anyone lived here, and they will be here forever. What matters is what’s in the inversions,” said Utah House Majority Leader Brad Wilson. “We’ve got to focus on that and we have.”

“We probably have proffered and passed more clean-air-bill legislation in the last few years than, I’d argue, a 100 years before cumulatively, so you’re seeing a greater focus on these issues," said Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes.

Utah Department of Environmental Quality officials have said Utah's air quality has improved overall in the state over the years. During his 2017 State of the State address, Gov. Gary Herbert said that statewide emissions dropped by 30 percent from 2002 to 2014.

There's also a bi-partisan Clean Air Caucus that focuses on these issues and multiple bills anticipated to be discussed during this year's session.

But has enough been done to fix the problems associated with poor air quality? That’s the question posed by those that organized the Utah Clean Air Solutions Fair.


It's not just a political issue, it's a health issue, it's a community issue. It's something that affects all of us daily. It's something that people are starting to become more tuned into.

–Sophie Silverstone, community outreach director for CATALYST


Sophie Silverstone, community outreach director for CATALYST, said the fair has received more interest from people, especially with growing frustrations there isn't enough being done to clean Utah's air.

"It's not just a political issue, it's a health issue, it's a community issue," she said. "It's something that affects all of us daily. It's something that people are starting to become more tuned into."

The week of clean air events began with a staged a “die-in” at the Salt Lake City Main Library Wednesday evening, where more than 50 people from all ages pretended to fall dead at once for 15 minutes inside the building.

The point of the message was to represent the many people who die from air quality-related illnesses each year in Utah. It is believed between 1,000 and 2,000 people die every year in Utah due to the impacts of air pollution, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment said in 2016.

Participants pretend to be dead to represent the many deaths associated with Utah's poor air quality during a "die-in" at the Salt Lake City Main Library on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)
Participants pretend to be dead to represent the many deaths associated with Utah's poor air quality during a "die-in" at the Salt Lake City Main Library on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (Photo: Carter Williams, KSL.com)

The idea for a die-in originated from the similar style of protests that happened in the United Kingdom over the Iraq War in the early 2000s, said David Brooks, an organizer for the die-in.

“(It) was a great opportunity to raise awareness to both ends of the spectrum: showing the negative and also the positive in a span of three days,” Brooks said, referring to both the protest and the fair. “It’s very powerful too, showing that juxtaposition of what negative exists and at the same time what ways we can forward from that negative.”

Organizers also held an event Friday in which speakers presented wide-ranging ideas on helping clean up Utah's air.

Saturday's fair concluded the week of events, but organizers said it won't be the end of the message they — and others pushing for cleaner air — are trying to put across.

"It's definitely an issue for everybody. Everybody breaths, right? No matter if you're an older person or a child," Brooks said. "It definitely affects everyone."

Photos

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast