Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- As federal pressure mounts for Utah to curb urban pollution, the state agency in charge of air quality is facing deep budget cuts.
State lawmakers have trimmed 22 percent of the Department of Environmental Qualitys budget over the current and upcoming fiscal years, according to Craig Silotti, director of the agencys support services.
The reductions will mean 19 DEQ positions are being eliminated and some new equipment also wont be purchased.
The cuts come as Utah - which on some winter days has some of the worst air in the country - confronts directives from the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce two kinds of pollution along the Wasatch Front associated with emissions from tail pipes, smoke stacks and other sources.
Bryce Bird, branch manager of the Division of Air Quality, said the state will focus on meeting those federal reductions but probably wont be able to monitor for air problems in other parts of the state.
It limits our ability to do special studies like weve done in the past, Bird said.
That has included tracking wintertime pollution near Park City, checking for dangerous chemicals during the closure of an explosives business near Spanish Fork and monitoring potentially unhealthy air near several industrial gravel pits around the state.
The budget reductions are part of statewide belt-tightening because of the economic downturn and a decline in Utahs once-booming construction business.
The DEQs budget gets about 25 percent of its money from the states general fund. The states portion of the current budget was trimmed by 4.1 percent in the fall and another 8.6 percent earlier this year. The budget for the upcoming year saw a 9.5 cut percent as lawmakers wrapped up the legislative session earlier this month, Silotti said.
Bill Sinclair, the agencys acting executive director, said in a statement the reductions, which total about $3 million, are the largest in the 29 years hes worked at the department.
Layoffs arent expected, but 19 vacant jobs are being eliminated and staff may be shuffled. Travel and other expenses are also being trimmed.
Aside from the DEQs air quality division, the cuts will be affect divisions dealing with drinking water, solid and hazardous waste, contaminated sites and radiation control.
DEQ officials are hoping to see some of those losses reversed with federal money and increased fees.
Three of the 19 unfilled positions will likely be at the Division of Air Quality.
Bird said that will mean employees will have to focus on tasks that are required to meet federal standards.
The EPA has said certain parts of Utah dont meet new, stricter health standards for summertime ozone and certain particulate pollution.
In the coming years, the state will have to develop comprehensive plans for reducing those pollutants.
That will be our priority, Bird said.
Continuing to violate federal pollution standards could lead to penalties down the road, including loss of federal highway funding.
Cherise Udell, founder of Utah Moms for Clean Air, said now isnt the time to be cutting money to monitor and clean up the states air. Air quality is al ready bad in some places and the links between pollution and health problems have only gotten stronger, she said.
If anything, she said, Utah should be increasing funds for air quality.
One of the primary roles of government is to protect public health. It doesnt make sense to me where we know lives are being shortened, Udell said.
With the reduced budget, state officials also wont be reinstating year-round air monitoring in the Uinta Basin.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
