Move comes despite data suggesting air here is cleaner than almost anywhere else in the state

Despite monitoring data suggesting the Tooele Valley’s air quality is among the best in the state, the Environmental Protection Agency is recommending that parts of Tooele County be included within a designated high-pollution zone.

The zone includes Salt Lake and Davis counties, parts of Weber and Box Elder counties, and essentially the Tooele Valley in Tooele County. Most of the areas within the zone don’t meet federal air quality standards for fine-particle pollution. Tooele County’s inclusion is because it is deemed to contribute to poor air quality in other areas, according to EPA officials.

In 2006, the EPA revised its 24-hour standard for PM 2.5 — fine-particulate pollution made up of dust and soot — from 65 to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. PM 2.5 is approximately 1/30th the size of an average human hair. It’s considered dangerous because it can become entrenched in lung tissue, which can cause respiratory problems.

According to Jeff Coombs, environmental health director for the Tooele County Health Department, Tooele has exceeded the 35 micrograms per cubic meter threshold only five times since its air quality monitoring station became operational in 2005.

“Of all the stations that DEQ monitors for PM 2.5, we have the lowest ratings of all the stations,” he said.

In 2007, Tooele’s highest rating was measured at 39.4 micrograms per cubic meter. Other areas’ highest readings for 2007 include Salt Lake City at 79; Spanish Fork at 71; Ogden at 76; West Valley at 80; Magna at 65; and Logan at 48 micograms per cubic meter.

“We were the lowest maximum reading for that year,” he said.

Coombs said it’ll be interested to see if, after a 30-day public comment period, the EPA alters its recommendations any.

“Just looking at the data compared with other monitoring stations in the Wasatch Front Range, we still have the best air quality compared to the other areas that are monitored,” he said.

Bill Reiss, a planner with the Utah Division of Air Quality, said the state has to deliver a plan to the EPA outlining how to get back into compliance with the standards. That plan will be due three years from the date the EPA makes a final designation of “nonattainment areas,” which is scheduled for Dec. 18.

After the EPA has made its final designation, local and state officials can begin to develop and implement a plan to reduce PM 2.5 pollution.

“Restrictions that are already ongoing in Utah, Salt Lake and Davis counties and parts of Weber County, would then all of the sudden apply to that portion of Tooele County that the EPA has identified as perhaps being included in this nonattainment area,” Reiss said.

These restrictions could include the air pollution warnings of green, yellow and red days, which ask drivers to reduce driving and people to avoid using wood-burning stoves or fireplaces.

“Right now it’s premature to say exactly what kind of controls we could have,” Reiss said, “but those are the kinds of things that we do in the nonattainment areas.”

The EPA arrived at its initial designation based upon the following nine factors: pollutant emissions, air quality data, population density and degree of urbanization, traffic and commuting patterns, growth, meteorology, geography and topography, jurisdictional boundaries, and level of control of emissions sources.

While the state looked at the same information, Reiss said its evaluation of what areas don’t meet the air quality standard for particulate matter differs from the EPA’s.

“The EPA looks at the same factors, but uses its own judgment. It’s not entirely objective,” he said. “I think they looked at the proximity of Tooele to the greater Salt Lake area and surmised there were a lot of people driving from Tooele back and forth and contributing to the nonattainment problem in Salt Lake County that we did measure. The process completely allows for them to see it that way.”

According to Catherine Roberts, particulate matter coordinator for the EPA in Denver, the agency did not weight any one factor more heavily than another.

“Any one factor was not more significant than the other,” she said. “It’s looking at all nine factors together.”

The EPA recommendations report stated: “Many of the counties that are candidates for nonattainment show a higher percentage of commuters going to Salt Lake County than are commuting from Salt Lake to other counties. The counties of Box Elder at 24.1 percent, Tooele at 43.8 percent and Utah at 12.9 percent are all higher than Salt Lake at 5.4 percent, which shows that emissions related to traffic and commuting from those areas are contributing to violations of the PM 2.5 standard.”

Reiss said the state weighted monitored air quality heavier than other factors, which contributed to their recommendation that Tooele County not be designated a nonattainment area.

The state can respond to the EPA within 60 days with evidence to support its initial recommendations.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com