FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2004
Contact:
Rick Sprott, Division of Air Quality Director, 801.536.4000
(Salt Lake City, Utah) - Logan does not have the worst air in the nation, officials said today. Logan may have had the highest readings for the last few days, but it's not a record and other areas of the country have dirty air almost all year long.
Although preliminary numbers indicated that Logan had record-breaking pollution levels in Utah and the nation last week, the real numbers from paper filters weighed in a laboratory painted a more accurate picture. The pollution levels turned out to be significantly lower, but they were still twice the health standard.
"That leaves a lot of work to do to cut pollution and protect health. The problem is real," said Air Quality Division Director Rick Sprott. "We use the preliminary numbers to notify people of current conditions and actions they can take to reduce pollution," Sprott said. "Our first priority is to protect public health."
According to Sprott, extreme humidity and low temperatures skewed the readings on the real-time monitoring instruments. These instruments allow scientists to measure pollution every hour. However, the ultimate measure of particulate matter comes from a paper filter used for an entire 24-hour period. The filters are then dried and weighed in a laboratory.
"Scientists have already made adjustments to account for humidity, but the high humidity and extreme inversion in the past few weeks entered new territory," Sprott said. "The instruments have been corrected to adapt to these conditions."
Cache Valley is unique because it is much smaller and narrower than the Salt Lake Valley. In addition, snow cover and dense fog are common. "All these ingredients make the perfect recipe for pollution in spite of its modest population and industry," Sprott said.
Logan City, the Bear River Health Department and Utah State University (USU) have taken proactive measures in the last two years to reduce pollution.
For example, the health department established a wood-burn control program and a smoking vehicle program with police enforcement and a hotline. Logan City synchronized traffic lights on Main Street that reduced congestion by 100 percent. The city also converted from diesel to natural gas at the municipal power plant. USU replaced its coal-fired heating plant with a modern natural gas plant. USU also uses natural gas buses for on-campus shuttles.
"We recognized early on that we could take preventative measures, and residents have been very supportive," said Lloyd Berentzen, acting director of the Bear River Health Department. "While the situation is still serious, it's not as bad as it could have been without these changes."
To help reduce pollution during the current inversion episode, Logan City has curtailed road crews, required city employees to carpool or use mass transit, obtained electricity from the grid rather than run its plant and had some businesses close "drive-through windows" to reduce idling.
"The community has really come together to do extraordinary things," said Logan City Mayor Douglas Thompson. "I'm proud of the work we've done, but there's still more to do."
One additional action being taken is research. State air quality scientists and USU faculty are conducting joint research to better characterize the extraordinary situation in Cache Valley to find solutions.
"We feel it is important for us to take a role in finding solutions now and in the future," said Darrell Hart, USU assistant vice president for facilities. "Not only do we live and work in the community, we also have highly qualified staff and concerned leaders willing to make a difference."
The Division of Air Quality will continue to work with local officials and USU to find immediate steps to reduce pollution this season and in the future. The greatest challenge will be to find enough emission reductions to meet the health standards during these extraordinary conditions.