Hey, Utahns--stop driving your car: A future with cleaner air is on the horizon.

• Author: Mumford, Jacqueline

EVEN BEFORE THE 2020 PANDEMIC, many Utahns were familiar with wearing masks outdoors. During the winter months, the inversion--a thick haze of pollution that blankets the skies above--makes it harder (and more dangerous) to breathe.

Looking outside after a big snowstorm may lead you to think that the inversions are getting worse, but officials in the state say air quality has improved leaps and bounds.

"There are a lot of players involved in the air quality in Utah," says Becky Close, the environmental program manager for the state of Utah's division of air quality. "But over the last 20 years, we've been able to reduce emissions with the low-hanging fruit--excess emissions from refineries and factories."

Refineries and factories are considered "major point sources" of hazardous air pollutants, and Close says legislation passed under Governor Hebert helped make their operations safer and control emissions floating into the air.

"We've done a ton of work with them to limit the pollutants produced," she says. "And while still large, their piece of the pie has gotten much smaller."

That still leaves the rest of the pollution pie--and pieces that Close says are much harder to swallow.

"With the success of limiting major point sources, we're seeing a spike in area source pollution," she says. "When we say 'area source,' we're talking about a very diverse pool of emissions. It's your home, but it's also business buildings downtown, shopping centers, and restaurants. Everything from your water heater to the University of Utah counts as an area source."

Even though these sources emit less than a refinery would, the sprawl makes the pollutants harder to track and control.

"You can imagine all of these hot spots around the state releasing pollutants into the air," she says. "It might be easier to manage if they were all the same kind of pollutant, but frying a burger versus dry cleaning clothes? It's all types of chemicals being released into the air on every street corner."

But even those widespread pollutants don't rival their number one priority: individuals driving cars.

BABY, YOU (SHOULDN'T) DRIVE YOUR CAR

"Over 40 percent of our emissions come from mobile sources, most often our personal vehicles," says Kim Frost, executive director of the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR). This 40 percent comes even after efforts in the state to adopt Tier 3 fuels, the growing popularity of electric vehicles, and grant programs run by the state to repair or replace cars that fail emissions inspections.

"Cars are still the biggest contributor to our inversions, during winter and otherwise," she says. "Action needs to be taken before inversion sets in. That's when we have the chance to make the greatest impact."

UCAIR works closely with the Division of Air Quality, the Department of Environmental Quality, and other government offices and non-profits in...