Utah's Air Policy and why won't our leaders do anything about industrial pollution

Utah’s Air Policy and why won’t our leaders do anything about industrial pollution

More people die and end up in emergency rooms in Utah on red air days than any other day. Our poor air quality is probably the most serious environmental problem we face in Utah and very little is being done about all of the industrial polluters along the Wasatch Front. Why is this? In this…

Richard Markosian

February 28, 2019

Utah's air policy industrial poluters — Utah’s industrial poluters

Why is this?

In this wide-ranging episode, we speak to Marty Gray a compliance manager for the Division of Air Quality for the State of Utah. We ask Marty all of the most difficult questions regarding clean-air policy mainly: why don’t we do something meaningful about our huge numbers of industrial polluters?

MagCorp emits 8 million pounds of chlorine gas into our airshed. Why is this okay? Why instead does our State Legislature and Governor believe that all of the focus should be on motorists and folks who burn logs to heat their homes? We delve into the idea of moving the refineries and Kennecott smelter out of our bowl-shaped valley. And ask why the current clean air policy seems to adversely affect the poor (by making vehicle emission standards difficult to attain for the poor) and favor the rich, by doing little to nothing about our smelters, refineries and heavy industrial polluters.

Podcast, Utah Stories

air pollution, air quality, bad air, Utah, Utah politics

Richard Markosian

I am a story teller and journalist. I have a passion for farmers, local craftspeople, and folks who aspire to create, build and grow their business in the local marketplace. Why local? By supporting locally-owned businesses we create more opportunity for entrepreneurs, and we claim our sovereignty to shape our communities how we want to see them. I aspire to build Utah Stories Magazine into a household Utah name, and assist Utah businesses and makers with marketing. On the journalism side of things my passion is investigative journalism that offers true insight into issues. I believe strongly in the forth estate: strong, meaningful, insightful journalism is essential to a free market Democracy.