Both a Yellow Air Quality Action and a Yellow Power Forward request have been issued for Friday, August 17.

From Utah Division of Air Quality:

CACHE County: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level
Health advisory: None

SALT LAKE & DAVIS counties: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level – Yellow Air Quality Action
Health Advisory: None

UTAH County: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level
Health Advisory: None

WEBER County: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level – Yellow Air Quality Action
Health Advisory: None

From Utah Department of Environmental Quality:

Consumers are encouraged to reduce their electricity use as much as possible during the peak hours from noon to 8 p.m.

Taken together, you are urged to drive less and use less electricity Friday.

The Power Forward program of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and electric utilities urges extra energy conservation for today,Thursday, August 16. They ask that you reduce electrical usage during the peak hours from noon to 8:00PM. Their suggestions include:

• Turn off all unnecessary lights, appliances, and electronic equipment.
• When away from home, set air conditioning thermostats to 85 degrees.
• When at home, set air conditioning thermostats to 78 degrees or higher.
• Use fans instead of air conditioning.
• Cook in a microwave oven.
• Run your dishwasher and laundry equipment after 8 pm.

All of these steps reduce the draw on energy resources on the hottest days during the hottest hours, when there is highest demand for energy for air conditioning.

Sign up to receive Power Forward alerts by email.

In a survey of more than 120 papers, Cornell researcher David Pimentel has found that “[a]bout 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution.” Among the study’s findings on air pollution:

Air pollution from smoke and various chemicals kills 3 million people a year. In the United States alone about 3 million tons of toxic chemicals are released into the environment — contributing to cancer, birth defects, immune system defects and many other serious health problems.

Dr. Pimentel has been active in environmental pollution research for more than 40 years.

Read the full story at:

• Chronicle Online, Cornell University.
• Science Daily.

The Utah Department of Air Quality has issued for Wednesday, August 15, an Air Quality Red Alert for Weber County and an Air Quality Yellow Action for Salt Lake and Davis Counties. Cache and Utah Counties are expected to have Moderate air quality.

CACHE County: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level
Health advisory: None

SALT LAKE & DAVIS counties: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level – Yellow Air Quality Action
Health Advisory: None

UTAH County: Air Quality Condition: Moderate level
Health Advisory: None

WEBER County: Air Quality Condition: Unhealthy for sensitive people – Red Air Quality Alert
Health Advisory: Health Advisory for sensitive individuals those with existing heart and respiratory conditions, the elderly, and children should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outside tomorrow.

Check current air quality conditions (limited by averaging and monitoring) or subscribe to receive general alerts by email.

Tell EPA to strengthen ozone standards. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released their new proposal to update air quality standards for ground-level ozone.

In the cities of the Wasatch Front, ozone is often the pollutant that exceeds federal standards in the summer, resulting in declaration of Red Air Quality Alert days. When ozone doesn’t meet those levels, and there is no public warning, levels can still be dangerous to our health. Utah Moms for Clean Air heard about more realistic measures of health impacts in detail when Dr. C. Arden Pope III spoke to our June meeting.

It is clear that ozone standards need to be strengthened for our health. It will be difficult to meet those standards, but we must do so for the health of our children.

You can take action to strengthen EPA standards:

• Attend a public hearing: Philadelphia (Aug 30), Los Angeles (Aug 30), Atlanta (Sept 5), Chicago (Sept 5), or Houston (Sept 5), and sign up to speak by contacting Tricia Crabtree of EPA at crabtree.tricia@epa.gov, or 919-541-5688.
• Send written comments to EPA by October 9, 2007 via email to: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. Reference Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172. Send copies to your elected officials and Members of Congress.
• Read more about the effects of ozone oxidizing internal body tissues so you understand the importance of the issue.

Find these actions and more on the American Lung Association Fact Sheet on the EPA’s Ozone Air Quality Standard.

• EPA Ozone Pollution Regulatory Actions.
• American Lung Association (ALA) Fact Sheet on Ozone Air Quality Standard (pdf).
• More ALA resources on EPA review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter.

Last week the Las Vegas Sun reported that “[t]he Environmental Protection Agency is questioning whether Nevada is shouldering too much of the burden of generating power for the Southwest.” The EPA is concerned that proposed Nevada coal plants’ capacity exceeds the energy needs of Western states.

EPA comments on coal plants in Nevada come from a letter to the Bureau of Land Management,

as the BLM is revising an environmental impact statement for the 1,590-megawatt White Pine Energy Station, a proposed privately owned coal-fired power plant near Elko.

In Utah, we have the additional concern of coal plants in Nevada as up-wind sources of pollution.

• Read more of the EPA comments and the context of the BLM impact statement: “Don’t rush to add coal plant, EPA warns,” Phoebe Sweet, Las Vegas Sun, August 9, 2007.

Our friends in Sevier County desperately need our help. As you know, the Sevier Power Company is pushing hard to obtain clearances in order to construct a 270-MW coal-fired power plant right in the middle of Sevier Valley. For those who have never been to the Richfield area, it is truly one of Utah’s most beautiful valleys, consisting of numerous small communities and many small farms, bordered on both sides with gorgeous mountains. Geographically, Sevier Valley is a tighter valley than even Cache Valley. Hence, the air quality is a very precious resource with increasingly dangerous inversions during the winter months. Building a huge coal plant in this valley with 183 homes located within 1-3/4 miles of the plant is simply a bad idea that will only benefit a very few individuals.

The Sevier County Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on August 23 at 7:00 PM at Snow College in Richfield regarding the land use permit application for the proposed power plant. This permit is one of immense controversy in the County.

Please consider writing a short letter to the Sevier Planning Commission asking them to disallow this permit. Points to consider:

• Health impacts to local residents. Regardless of what proponents of the project claim, the plant will emit thousands of tons of dangerous pollutants every year, pollutants which know no boundaries. Even though you may not live in the valley, you breathe Utah’s air, which is getting worse every year.

• This project changes land use from agriculture to permanent industrialization and spells the loss of valuable agriculture land.

• This project will be the death toll for diversified economic development in the future. Why would new businesses want to locate in a valley dominated by a 400′ tall smoke stack? With two major interstates converging outside of Richfield, county officials should be working to attract new renewable energy manufactures, not a polluting dinosaur.

• New coal plants are quickly falling out of favor with Congress, the public, and Wall Street. Just weeks ago, CitiGroup downgraded coal stocks with the three largest U.S. coal companies. The analyst said, “Our sense is that coal has missed a critical time window, which potentially throws any recovery out-of-phase, with implications that could last for a year or more.”

• Global warming – this plant will emit over 2 million tons of CO2 annually. Nearly everyone is concerned about global warming and many are starting to take action. Sevier County should too.

Written Comments are to be submitted by August 23, 2007. The address is; Sevier County Planning Commission, c/o Sevier County Clerk, 250 North Main Street, Richfield, Utah, 84701.

Pat Bagley’s alternate history of the Salt Lake Valley without the Clean Air Act appeared in today’s Salt Lake Tribue.

• “Imagine the Salt Lake Valley without the Clean Air Act,” Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, August 12, 2007.