Organizations band together for cleaner air

Ed Yeates reporting Hundreds of mothers who've banded together are about to announce a partnership with 30 other organizations for what they call a major crusade to clean up the air in our valleys. The parents fear spikes in bad air are becoming all too frequent and threatening.

In between frequent storms, the quality of our air stays good to moderate for a while, but it doesn't take long now for it to slip downward.

Kayte Isbell, who turns 9 years old in about another month, was on a nebulizer in the E.R. today, trying to bring her asthma under control. Her family moved from Nevada to Salt Lake about a year and a half ago.

Kellie Isbell says her daughter's asthma attacks have intensified since living here. "She has no other colds. She has no cold symptoms. It's strictly breathing issues," Kellie said.

Cold air is part of the problem for children with asthma, but the quality of air is also at issue. That's why Michelle Hofmann, who is both a parent and a physician, has joined upwards of 800 Utah mothers sharing the same message.

"Medical research is showing that at lower and lower levels of particulate matter, we are seeing health effects. We're worried Utah's standards are not stringent enough, that the federal standards Utah needs to meet are not stringent enough," Hofmann explained.

Utah's standard listing of a moderate air day now, for Kayte, is a bad day. It's little consolation for her mother, who hears our air is actually better than it was 50 years ago.

The coalition says that argument is meaningless. "I think they use that as an excuse for inaction. The fact is our population is continuing to grow and our air quality is deteriorating as a result," Hofmann said.

Utah Moms For Clean Air, Utah Physicians For Clean Air, and 30 other organizations which have formed this partnership say our valleys here, because of the geography, are now routinely in the top 10 yearly for what are called "acute spikes in particulate matter."

Tighter government controls and more voluntary controls to cut down on pollution: That's what these combined coalitions will be talking about in a news conference come next month.

For more information on Utah Moms for Clean Air, click the related link.

Related topics