3 ms·

Yeah, it's just the geography that causes it. It's enclosed on three sides by the Wasatch, Traverse, and Oquirrh mountains which causes cold air to be trapped t

by eco 6y ago

Yeah, it's just the geography that causes it. It's enclosed on three sides by the Wasatch, Traverse, and Oquirrh mountains which causes cold air to be trapped there. The Salt Lake metro area isn't much different from other cities of similar size and makeup when it comes to actual emissions. It's just that those emissions stick around sometimes during a couple of weeks in the winter. Because of this, Utah meets all the annual mean PM 2.5 EPA requirements but fails the 24-hour limits (we have occasional very bad days but most days are good).

seanmcdirmid 6y ago
LA and Beijing have the same inversion problem. I think Denver does as well, but I’ve never experienced one there. Seattle has an anti-inversion (clouds get trapped between mountain ranges on all sides, pushing them up into rain, which keeps the air fairly cleaner than it should be).
jakebol 6y ago
Unfortunately "its just geography" is kind of one of the talking points for not really addressing the problem. Although true, concerted reductions in pollution have happened when there was political will to make it happen (mostly through the federal gov. / EPA clean air regulations). Ogden and Provo are some of the worst offenders for per household air pollution emissions. Like many western cities they have longish commutes (everywhere) in large cars (trucks / suv's) with a high number of cars / household and almost non-functional public transport system. For the Salt Lake Metro area, per capita carbon emissions doubled between 1980 and 2015 because of increasing sprawl. Air regulations here are spotty for personal vehicles and I'm guessing almost non-existent for commercial vehicles. Oh and the state governments solution to this is to push a publicly subsidized "inland port" that will bring increased truck and rail traffic to the valley. The leaders of these tech companies are starting to point out that terrible air pollution for parts of the year is hurting recruitment so it seems like as the money flows into this sector maybe there will be political will on the state and local side to address some of these issues.

by eco 6y ago

seanmcdirmid 6y ago

LA and Beijing have the same inversion problem. I think Denver does as well, but I’ve never experienced one there. Seattle has an anti-inversion (clouds get trapped between mountain ranges on all sides, pushing them up into rain, which keeps the air fairly cleaner than it should be).

jakebol 6y ago

Unfortunately "its just geography" is kind of one of the talking points for not really addressing the problem. Although true, concerted reductions in pollution have happened when there was political will to make it happen (mostly through the federal gov. / EPA clean air regulations). Ogden and Provo are some of the worst offenders for per household air pollution emissions. Like many western cities they have longish commutes (everywhere) in large cars (trucks / suv's) with a high number of cars / household and almost non-functional public transport system. For the Salt Lake Metro area, per capita carbon emissions doubled between 1980 and 2015 because of increasing sprawl. Air regulations here are spotty for personal vehicles and I'm guessing almost non-existent for commercial vehicles. Oh and the state governments solution to this is to push a publicly subsidized "inland port" that will bring increased truck and rail traffic to the valley. The leaders of these tech companies are starting to point out that terrible air pollution for parts of the year is hurting recruitment so it seems like as the money flows into this sector maybe there will be political will on the state and local side to address some of these issues.