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SALT LAKE CITY — Sarah Sargent takes advantage of the warm weather to play with her 2-year-old son outside, but on inversion days, she worries about taking him outside.
“It very much concerns me having all that air trapped down, and then all the things we’re pumping into the air. So we’re trying to keep him inside more,” Sargent said.
Sargent is one of a growing number of parents who are worried about her family. She's pushing Utah lawmakers to do something about air quality as soon as possible, and lawmakers seem to be listening.
Lawmakers are working on at least 28 air quality-related bills. This week, they advanced a bill that would allow Utah's air-quality standards to be stricter than federal standards, and Wednesday, bills advanced that require more efficient state vehicles, improve clean air programs and call for stiffer penalties for polluting vehicles.
Representative Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, said she led the fight before it was popular.
“Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon, and sometimes multiple bills (are) covering the same issue. There are well over 25 bills and appropriations requests on top of that because we need to make sure the Division of Air Quality has the tools they need to do their job,” Arent said.
Today, a citizen group continued its push to drive out North Salt Lake's Stericycle medical waste recycling plant, saying the plant pollutes too much.
“I’m really worried about what’s in our air. I’m worried about my children and what’s going to happen in their future,” said Alicia Connell from Communities for Clean Air. “There’s so many things that need to be fixed. Stericycle is the tip on an iceberg.”
