Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
John Hollenhorst reporting A new report says the air along the Wasatch Front is the 6th dirtiest in the nation, at least for one important pollutant.
You've seen it on those winter inversion days. Sometimes you can taste it. When it's bad enough, you feel like you could chew it.
A lot of the bad air is tiny particles called "PM-2.5". Essentially it's soot.
Professor Arden Pope/BYU: "So it comes from automobiles. It comes from trucks and it comes from industrial sources."
BYU professor Arden Pope did groundbreaking work in the 1990's that helped convince scientists and regulators.
Small particles create a small health risk, Pope says. Spread over millions of people, they add up to a significant public health concern.
Professor Arden Pope/BYU: "We tend to die a little bit earlier as a result of having a lifetime of exposure to high levels of pollution."
Small Particle Pollution 1. Los Angeles, Calif. 2. Fresno, Calif. 3. Bakersfield, Calif. 4. Pittsburgh, Penn. 5. Eugene, Oregon 6. Salt Lake City-Ogden
18. Provo-OremThe new study by the American Lung Association ranks Salt Lake City/Ogden the 6th worst metro area for small particle pollution. Provo Orem was 18th. The study's methodology has been critized by some as misleading. Utah's air quality director says the study uses a different method than federal regulators.
Rick Sprott/ Utah Air Quality Director: "Our interest is not so much quibbling with how the Lung Association may choose to provide a report. But the fact is, yeah, there's some pretty high pollution here. The goal is to meet the health standards."
Experts agree air quality has improved greatly over the last 20 to 30 years. But growth threatens to reverse the progress.
Professor Arden Pope/BYU: "What these scores tell us is that while we're making improvement, we don't want to become complacent."
There's no doubt that our weather and our topography are a big part of the problem. But experts say that's no excuse for not doing anything about it if the air we breath shortens our lives.
