EPA Could Reject Utah Pollution Reduction Plan

12.03.2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Utah’s plan to reduce air pollution caused by dust and smog, called PM 10, might be rejected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, Bryce Bird with the state Division of Air Quality says the plan isn’t actually necessary, because the state is already working on a pollution-reduction plan for PM 2.5, which is a component of PM 10.

“Our focus is on the future, you know, developing a 2.5 plan that brings us back into attainment. And as part of that we will certainly be considering the comments EPA made in their disapproval. But really our focus needs to be on the current violations that are impacting people’s health,” Bird says.

The division submitted the PM 10-reduction plan in 2005 after failing to meet federal air quality standards during winter inversions. The EPA claims the state has since violated air pollution standards during dust storms. However, Bird says dust storms should have been exempt because they are natural occurrences.

But local air quality watchdog Dr. Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, says the state shouldn’t be given a pass for dust storms. He says they can actually be prevented with tighter regulations for industries like mining, and by stopping projects like the Snake Valley pipeline in western Utah.

“If we have poor air quality because of dust storms, that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t have public health impact,” Moench says. “It just means the strategy to reduce it may be different. But ‘natural dust storms’ still have significant public health impacts, so we should try to reduce it from those sources as well.”

Utah now has 30 days to respond to the EPA’s action. It could take another year for the federal agency to make a final ruling. And if the state’s PM 10 reduction plan is ultimately rejected, it means Utah is one step closer to losing federal funding for road and building projects.