From today’s Deseret News:
LOGAN — Ah, Cache Valley: snow-capped peaks, picture-book countryside, pristine air — but the valley’s air isn’t that pristine anymore.
The Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of declaring the valley’s air doesn’t meet the standards for particulate pollution.
Using averages from 2004, 2005 and 2006, the EPA has concluded the valley’s air violates clean-air standards, said Callie Videtich, an EPA official in Denver. If the averages for 2005, 2006 and 2007 don’t improve significantly, the EPA will likely designate Cache Valley as a non-attainment area in December 2008, she said.
More:
The task force posts electronic signs at the north and south ends of Logan’s Main Street during the winter to tell drivers when air pollution reaches unhealthy levels, said Grant Koford, an environmental health scientist for the health department who heads the task force.’
Other strategies include radio advertisements, informational DVDs distributed to civic and religious groups, free raffles for bus riders and contests among high schools to reduce the number of cars in lots.
So what suggestions would you make to improve our air quality in the winter?
I have a few ideas (already mentioned by others):
- Emissions testing. I know there are huge drawbacks. It hits the poor harder. It’s expensive. But I can’t think of anything as effective. Perhaps vehicles not passing standards wouldn’t be banned from roads completely, just from December-March or during inversions.
- Make 1st East, 2nd East, 1st West and 2nd West one way streets. This would add additional lanes of traffic and alleviate congestion. Maybe even eliminate parking on one or boths sides of the street to add even more lanes of traffic.
What are your ideas?
-Tom
Emissions testing isn’t a bad idea — if it works. I lost all faith in emissions testing when I lived in the Seattle area. Washington required annual testing done at state owned, state run testing facilities. One year I took my car to be tested and it flunked by a large margin. The rules say that if you flunk, spend $50 or more on some specific types of repairs, and if you flunk again they let you go for a year.
I had the work done and was retested. Same bad results. Not even close to passing. I then drove the car for another year and did no further work on it. Then I took the car to be tested for the next year. Not only did it pass, but it passed easily.
The testing technology needs to be improved before we rely on it.