Air in Utah

[Guest guest]

This is an interesting article from today's Salt Lake City Tribune.

Somehow I never would have thought that Utah had bad air. Perhaps

the scientists and doctors in this group can correct me, but bad air

can lead to mold (when wet) and bad indoor air. Those 25.5% of

children with asthma in Harlem had bad environmental conditions, both

inside and outside. Anyway:

Air Still Murky in Utah Counties

By Greg Burton

The Salt Lake Tribune

The air we breathe is better, but it is still too often colored

by smog in Utah's largest counties, according to the annual State of

the Air report released today by the American Lung Association.

But the question remains, how much is too much?

The association says that even three bad ozone days in a year

rate no better than a " C " grade. In its latest report, Salt Lake

County received an " F " grade even though the number of high ozone

days fell by more than half -- from 22 during 1998-2000 to 10 during

the period incorporated in the 2003 report, 1999-2001.

" We . . . take strong exception to the grading system -- it's not

terribly scientific, " said Utah Air Quality Director Rick

Sprott. " The good news is the trends indicate improving air. "

For the years 1999-2001, no Utah county was named on the

association's best or worst lists.

But Salt Lake County extended its string of " F " grades for having

too many days when the air quality is considered unhealthy for people

sensitive to ozone, those younger than 15, older than 64 or who have

lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema or bronchitis, according to

the association.

Salt Lake County had 10 high ozone days during the study period,

eight " orange days, " which are dangerous for sensitive groups, and

two " red " days, considered unhealthy for everyone.

During the same period, County recorded five high ozone

days and Utah County recorded four high ozone days.

They each received a " C " grade from the Lung Association, up

from " F " grades in prior years. Weber County, with three high ozone

days, maintained its previous " C " grade.

Two other Utah counties with available air-quality monitoring

data -- Cache and San -- recorded no high ozone days.

The data from Box Elder County, the last county in Utah with

monitoring studied by the American Lung Association, was incomplete

so it was not included in the analysis.

While Sprott said he respects the American Lung Association, he

said, " They kind of make up their own criteria for the health

standards. "

" This is not one of their best efforts, " he said. " They assume

the whole population of a county is the same -- that's simply not the

case. We have put the monitors, by design, in the areas where we

would expect the readings to be the worst. "

Still, Sprott acknowledged Utah, and specifically Salt Lake

County, " has some work to do. But an 'F'? I don't think so. . . .

That falls into the category of the sky is falling or crying wolf. "

Across the United States, the news was mixed. The association

said nearly half the population, more than 137 million

Americans, " continues to breathe unhealthy amounts of the toxic air

pollutant ozone [smog]. "

A reduction in the number of high ozone days, the 2003 report

asserts, is attributable to lower summer temperatures, " not air-

pollution cleanup activities. "

For the fourth year in a row, four metropolitan areas in

California were ranked the worst for ozone air pollution. Those areas

are Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, Fresno, Bakersfield and

Visalia-Tulare- Porterville.

The rest of the worst-ranked, in order, are Houston-Galveston-

Brazoria in Texas; Sacramento-Yolo, Calif.; Merced, Calif.; Atlanta;

Knoxville, Tenn.; and Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.

The 10 areas with the least ozone air pollution are Bellingham,

Wa.; Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, Texas; Colorado Springs,

Colo.; Duluth-Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin; Elkhart-Goshen,

Ind.; Eugene-Springfield, Ore.; Fargo-Moorhead in North Dakota and

Minnesota; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Greeley, Colo.; and Honolulu.

Nine of the 10 counties with the worst ozone pollution are in

California and the 10th is in Texas.