A hazy outlook: regulators, industries and innovators are tackling Utah's air quality from multiple angles.

• Author: Biton, Adva
• Position: A Hazy Outlook

Be honest. Have there been days when you've wanted to invest in a gas mask when you walk outside? Days where the outlines of the mountains fade into a blur, and the fog is a tinged a murky brown?

That's the reality of the inversion days in our state's metropolitan areas. And while inversion is a meteorological phenomenon, it doesn't change the fact that on the days that phenomenon occurs--on average 18 days a year--we're all stuck breathing a dusty soup of pollutants.

The issue is top of mind for the citizens affected by winter inversion and our poor summer air days, says Bryce Bird, Air Quality Division director at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Bird says that in a recent survey, respondents replied "air quality was one of the highest concerns on [their] mind--and the one that people thought we were doing the least about."

What is the answer to Utah's air quality problem? Is it that the state's growth is outpacing our state's efforts to lower pollution? That technology hasn't caught up with the problem? That laziness leads the population to shun habits that would lower emissions on our worst air quality days? Or that here, as with seemingly everything, money still talks? The answer is a complicated blend of all of these--and more.

PINPOINTING SOURCES

Figures from Gov. Gary Herbert's 2017 Energy Summit showed that emissions and pollution sources in the Wasatch Front came mainly from three sources: area pollutants, like gas stations, dry cleaners, and residential or commercial buildings; mobile pollutants such as cars, trucks and buses; and point pollutants, such as refineries. It's the breakdown of that pie chart that might surprise people: 39 percent of Wasatch Front pollution comes from area pollutants, 48 percent from mobile, and 13 percent from point pollutants.

To truly solve the air quality problem, the best solution is to attack all the sources, rather than simply focus on one. After all, although nearly half of the pollutants in our air come from the cars we drive, how many people do you know that have volunteered to simply toss out their keys and start walking everywhere? It's a multi-pronged problem, and needs a multi-pronged solution.

REFINING THE REFINERIES

The oil and gas industry isn't going anywhere, despite the horrible PR that's rained down on it for years.

"Petroleum products are really everywhere in our lives," says Lee Peacock, president of the Utah Petroleum Association. "When you stop and look at the building blocks of everything we use in our lives, petrochemicals, which come from the oil and gas industry, are in virtually everything we use every day. You think about plastics or simple household items like cosmetics, sports equipment or rubber for tires--oil and gas is a huge part of all of that."

Because the industry is vital to virtually everything people use, Peacock says the idea that oil and gas companies are resistant to alternative fuels for our transportation systems is overblown. He says the industry has put lots of research and development dollars into alternatives, but that oil and gas is always going to be necessary. "As an industry, we're working hard to deliver those resources we all need in as an environmentally responsible way as we all can," he says.

Peacock also says the long-touted idea that simply "turning off" the refineries on bad air days is not just incorrect--it's irresponsible. Shutting down and firing up a refinery creates more pollution than simply allowing it to run continuously, thereby completely defeating the purpose, he says. It's better to let the refineries run--but have them create cleaner fuel.

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