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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wants the Environmental Protection Agency to amend its Northern Wasatch Front ozone nonattainment area following a federal study that pinpointed a magnesium plant as a major undetected driver in regional pollution.
The governor sent a letter to the federal agency's regional office in Denver on Monday, calling on the agency to add the US Magnesium plant in Tooele County in the Northern Wasatch Front nonattainment area. A nonattainment area is a region that doesn't meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards outlined in 2015, according to the EPA.
The EPA moved the Northern Wasatch Front nonattainment area, which includes Salt Lake and Davis counties, as well as parts of Tooele and Weber counties, from marginal to moderate in November. It means that the eight-hour average ozone levels jumped from 0.071-0.080 parts per million to 0.081-0.093 parts per million.
Cox wrote that the Utah Division of Air Quality determined that the US Magnesium plant in Tooele County is a "major" industrial point source of volatile organic compounds that "contribute to the degradation of the (region's) airshed but are located outside of the existing boundary."
A study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month found that high levels of chlorine and bromine boosted Wasatch Front and northern Utah particulate matter levels by as much as 25% during a study period in 2017. Division officials noted that halogen emissions from the plant could impact summertime ozone and wintertime PM2.5 pollution levels.
The official request notes that the adjustment makes sense because parts of Tooele County are already in the nonattainment area. It states that the change would "give the state the tools necessary to implement (volatile organic compound) reduction strategies that would reduce Utah's summertime ozone" in an effort to get the area back on track with the Clean Air Act.
"Utah has made significant strides in improving air quality over the past 10 years, but as our state continues to grow, we need to begin to look more strategically at opportunities to continue this trajectory. This intentional approach gives us a focused range of tools that align with the outcome we all want: cleaner air and a better quality of life for Utahns," Cox said Monday in a statement about his request.
Kathleen Becker, the EPA's Region 8 administrator, will have 18 months to rule on Utah's request.
What's behind northern Utah's 'brown clouds'? New study pinpoints a major source
A new federal study offers a stronger look at the pollution sources during winter inversions, including a previously unreported chemical.It's not the only air quality policy change proposed in the wake of last month's study. The Utah House of Representatives on Friday voted unanimously on a bill that requires the Utah Division of Air Quality to study halogen emission sources and prepare a plan to reduce those emissions.
Certain halogen emissions, such as bromine, are not currently tracked by state or federal agencies. Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, the bill's sponsor, explained last week that HB220 can change that.
"This bill would allow Utah to get out ahead of the EPA and take it into our own hands," he said, in a meeting last week.
The Utah Senate has until Friday, the last day of the general session of the Utah Legislature, to consider the bill.
