Anyone know why Utah's air quality is so bad? I always thought it was due to everyone being congested in the valleys. The article didn't really say much and only mentioned the type of pollutants in the air. I am no expert so I would like to hear what some long time utah residents or knowledgable people think.

Air Quality in Utah is only getting worse. Who is Heying kidding? Individuals appointed to sit on Air Quality board are there for industry and act accordingly.

Get a dose of reality Heying. A public health crisis is here. Do your job, enforce the Clean Air Act.

Utah needs to put more restrictions on the business use of vehicles in these counties. The majority of traffic is for the business use of vehicles and vehicles that are not properly tested for emission standards. Business vehicles, 1 ton and larger are allowed to run rampant on loose emission standards. Large hauler trucks of gravel and sand are let loose without properly securing and covering their loads. The business use of small vehicles should have a tax base proportinate to the number of miles driven every year, an easy item to tax, when emission test and inspections are done as the vehilce mileage is included on the forms. Businesses should be held more liable for the polution they generate to cause these bad air days. Workers in offices and work sites are not on the roads, but a very large numbers of business vehicles constantly abusing the air quality. We need mileage based taxation on business retistered use of vehicles, the more they drive the more it cost them in taxes. This is the only way to get any kind of reaction to decrease vehicle emissions. Lower and enforced speed limits for all vehicles would also help.

Perhaps we should restrict the release of all those nasty fumes from the gas refineries!

We ALL need to walk more and - when needed - take the Trax, the Bus, and how about Bicycle more! Please - for ALL of us and the Air we breathe!!!

The reason Logan, Salt Lake, and Las Vegas are on the list is because they are in closed desert valleys. The surrounding mountains prevent weather systems from cleaning out the valley air. Particulates also include dust, which is inherent in the desert, so desert cities always score disproportionately high on the EPA's scales.

Generation of polluted air here is no higher than anywhere else--it just gets stuck in these valleys.

Reasons? - you ask good questions. Information about ozone is available on the Utah Department of Air Quality's web page. The left side of the page has a drop-down menu labeled "public interest." Click there and then click "about pollutants" and "ozone." The bottom of the web page has a link to a chart showing an upward trend in ozone levels, but be aware that the chart is out of date and does not show the current federal standards (0.075 ppm).

For the umpteenth time, I must point out the following facts about air pollution:

1. Utah's air is much cleaner today than 30, 40, or even 50 years ago;

2. The data show overall air quality is getting better, not worse;

3. The overwhelming majority of poor air quality days occur during a few weeks in the winter and a few weeks during the summer;

4. The rest of the time, Utah's air quality is rated as "good" (such as today).

The American Lung Association is distorting the facts for political purposes. If you want to know the truth, go to the Division of Air Quality website and search the data archives.

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Looking at the chart, it would appear that the overall ozone levels are at worst about the same as 10 years ago, with some stations (Beach, Bountiful, Hawthorne) showing an actual decline in values.

Keep in mind that the numbers are based on three- year averages, and if you have an exceedingly hot summer (like last year) you will see a temporary spike in ozone levels.

Take away last summer, and the graph would show a downward trend.

It seems to me nobody ever mentions the refineries spewing out smoke that line the freeway from Davis County to Salt Lake County. I've choked on that smoke on many occasions. But they have $$$ so it must not be them.

The most disturbing part is the “metal particulates” that we’re breathing every day. “… F for year-round particle pollution…metals…body's natural defenses…unable to protect lungs from the microscopic particles, which are about one-fortieth the width of a human hair…result…difficulty breathing, asthma, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and premature death.” (SLTrib) Maybe you die 10 years early. As Dick Cheney says: “So?”

Other symptoms: whites of eyes being red with stringy yellow pus, persistent dry cough, tired, fever, sore throat, nausea, loose bowels, metallic taste in mouth, headaches. After a snow storm last month, shiny, metal particulates on my car were (roughly) 1/40th the width of a human hair. Huh? Automobiles, aerosol cans, and Utah’s very small amount of heavy industry do not produce metal particulates. Other cities complain of the same metal particulates, with evidence of it being aluminum and barium. It’s not politically correct to resolve it.

The political and medical authorities know what the metal particulates are in the atmosphere, but run the risk of appearing politically incorrect. Pay farmers not to grow crops, pay welfare recipients not to work, pay health officials not to protect the public. Conclusion: everything is normal, go back to your thoughtless stupor.