Mitch Sullivan

H. Brown
English 2010
16 February 2015

Utah Air Pollution

Imagine yourself waking up to the view of a beautiful mountain range surrounding a
small city within a valley. You look around to take in the beauty, but only seem to focus on a
dirty thick cloud covering the valley and all that lies within it. As you go to breath in the air you
begin to cough and choke from the pollutants within the cloud. What could cause such a
beautiful area to be covered in this pollution cloud? Is it excessive traffic covering the roads,
factories, or the geographical location of the valley?

Picture of the Salt Lake Valley from

Little Cottonwood Canyon during a
winter inversion.

Utah is made up of beautiful valleys that house some of the states largest cities. These
pollution clouds, also known as inversions are not only an eyesore, but also present potential
health risks for those living in it. It is known that during winter months inversions cover these
valleys allowing all if its pollution to become trapped within. I intend to discuss the air quality
struggles Utah faces during times of inversions, and a possible solution to combat the problems.
Now, I will be the first to admit that Utah needs to continue its efforts on creating green
communities and reducing its carbon footprint. The state however has many obstacles to

overcome, such as attempting to retrofit a city with reliable forms of mass transportation for its
residence. Salt Lake City wasn't designed around mass transportation and due to this, the
majority of its population is forced to travel large distances in motor vehicles in order to get
wherever is needed. The Salt Lake Valley also has large contributors to air pollution in the form
of refineries at the northern end of the valley and lets not forget the giant hole we call the
Bingham Canyon Copper Mine.
Some may argue that there is not much that can be done due to inversions trapping in the
pollution. Now to a certain extent this may be true, but before attempting to convince you one
way are another, I think it would be important for my readers to understand what an inversion is.
Inversions are when cold air becomes trapped under a pocket of warm air due to colder
air becoming stagnant and unable to move. Utah's valleys prevent wind from moving the pocket
of cold air. Once the inversion has set in, the inversion will continue to collect pollution from
everything trapped below the pocket of warm air. This will all remain in place until the next
storm makes its way into the geographical landscape and forces the cold air out. The storm will
clean out a majority of the pollution but the process will soon start again and residents will be
waiting for the next storm to make its way into the valley.

During summer months Utah experiences layers of smog that blanket the cities. This
smog occurs in the Earths lower atmosphere called the Troposphere. The Troposphere reacts
with many of the gases created from refineries, and motor vehicles. Add this mixture with water
vapor and sunlight and toxic gases are created. According to Marjorie McCloy from Catalyst
Magazine Earth's lower atmosphere (the troposphere), ozone reacts chemically with oxides of
nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) to form a harmful air pollutant. This air
pollution and toxic gas create the blanket of smog; the smog is then trapped with these valleys
until a storm can push out the pollution.
Now that we understand how inversions are contributing the states air pollution, I can
discuss one possible solution to slow the rate of contamination during these times. A few of
Utah's counties including Cache County, Utah County, and Salt Lake County have all been
growing at an ever increasing rate, which in return is going to create more pollution. One
solution to the to the carbon footprint left by motor vehicles is the development of mass
transportation by the Utah Transit Authority. UTA has currently has 600 buses, 400 vanpools,
146 light rail vehicles, 63 commuter rail cars and 18 locomotives in service from Payson to
Brigham City. 2,000 tons of air pollution is removed from Utah each year due to the public
transit system. If youre like me and your not sure how much 2,000 tons of air pollution actually
is consider this, 2,000 tons of air pollution is enough to fill 150 city garbage trucks. According to
UTA, By choosing public transit, UTA riders save 850,000 vehicles miles each day. Thats the
equivalent of driving from Salt Lake City to Manhattan 195 times! Riders also help take 120,000
daily car trips off Utah roads. Not only does public transportation cut back on air pollution, it
reduces the amount of gasoline our refineries produce. Public transportation throughout the

United States reduces the burning of gasoline by 4.2 billion gallons each year. UTA states
Thats the savings equivalent of 320 million cars filling up 900,000 each day. Not only does
using public transit help reduce air pollution it can save its users money. Users save money by
reducing vehicle wear and tear and spending less at the pumps.
As you can see from the information above, Utah will continue to have a difficult time in
reducing its air pollution problems without the help of its people and leaders. Having a city that
is widespread and not designed around mass transportation is going to cause a large amount of
pollution to be generated from motor vehicles. As we continue to come up with new and
innovative mass transportation ideas we can reduce this problem. Placing a city within a valley
that is subject to weather that could possibly cause an inversion isn't beneficial to reducing air
pollution. I'm positive that air pollution trapped below inversions was one of the last thoughts on
our forefathers minds when settling these valleys, but this doesnt mean we give up all together
and continue to pollute the environment at an alarming rate.
It is very clear that Utah has an issue with air pollution; all we have to do is walk out side
and look over the valley to see this problem. I hope this information will inform future and
current residence of the pollution issue that takes place on a consistent basis with the valleys.
When choosing to live within these cities one must realize that the geographical location is going
to contribute to the air quality but we need to be responsible and do are part to prevent further
pollution. Its hard to blame one party or another of being the main reason for pollution when the
pollution has no place to go but under an inversion. So now that we understand it has no place to
go, we can take action and cut down on air pollution by using public transportation. Hopefully
one day we will no longer be dependent on energy sources that pollute the environment.
Choosing areas that will assist with cleaner air quality and be public transit friendly should be a

primary focus for communities to come. So in the end lets all step up and cut down on pollution,
save a little money, and use public transportation.

Works Cited
Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Choose Clean Air.
Utah.gov. Web. Feb 16 2015
http://www.airquality.utah.gov/clean_air/archive/inversion.htm
SLC Green. Community Carbon Inventory.
slcgov.com. Web. Feb 16 2015
http://www.slcgov.com/node/1462
Jim Motavalli. Eight Facts About Warming Up Your Car In Winter.
Utah Moms For Clean Air. Web. Feb 16 2015
http://blog.utahmomsforcleanair.org/air-pollution-facts/
Utah Division of Air Quality 2012 Annual Report.
Utah Division of Air Quality. Web. Feb 17 2015
http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Public-Interest/annual-report/.pdf/2012AnnualReport.pdf
Marjorie McCloy. What Causes Salt Lake's Air Pollutionand Why You Should Care.
Catalyst Magazine. Web. Feb 16 2015
http://catalystmagazine.net/this-month/item/2361-what-causes-salt-lake-s-air-pollution-andwhy-you-should-care