SALT LAKE CITY — A bill introduced in the Utah State Legislature seeks to cut emissions along the Wasatch Front by 50% by 2033.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, requires state agencies to craft plans to reduce pollution within 10 years. For years now, the state has been in and out of compliance with federal air quality regulations.
"I don’t think anyone wakes up in the morning and says we want to breathe in dirty air. But we don’t want to have federal bureaucrats in Washington DC telling us how to do business," Rep. Clancy said in an interview Monday with FOX 13 News.
So House Bill 279 is designed to offer a state plan.
"We set a state emissions reduction plan that can stand as our guideposts. We believe in local control, we can make sure that cities, counties across the state can make sure the emissions progress they’re making is at their own pace," Rep. Clancy said.
Pollution has been reduced along the Wasatch Front in recent years, with fewer "red air" days and fewer inversions. But that doesn't mean it's not a chronic — and visible — problem.
Rep. Clancy's bill is getting support from the environmental group O2 Utah, which has been pushing it in the Utah State Legislature.
"It's very doable," said Eliza Cowie, the policy director for O2 Utah. "What we look at in terms of what we want to accomplish with our pollution, what we put in the atmosphere."
There is another powerful motivation to pass the bill in the legislature — the 2034 Winter Olympics.
"The International Olympic Committee has tasked Utah with doing three key things: Reduce emissions by 50%, create a 100% renewable portfolio in Salt Lake and to adopt better public transportation models," Cowie said. "If we don’t meet at least one of those goals? We can kiss the Olympics goodbye."
Rep. Clancy said he is using the Olympics as a timetable for emissions reduction.
"We're actually on track to be pretty close as it is. This is just another way we can set this goal and do it the Utah way," he said.
Another provision of Rep. Clancy's bill would call on agencies to enforce air quality laws already on the books. Some, like anti-idling ordinances, are unenforced.
"Before we create new laws and new red tape, if you will, we’re at least enforcing the laws we already have on the books," he said.
