The big industrial guns are lining up behind the state in its fight against the EPA, which has rejected the state's request to be redesignated an "attainment area" for ozone pollution.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Club is lending its legal and moral support to the Environmental Protection Agency."We'd like to make a point that the state ought to be concerned about the human right of air quality," said Scott Endicott of the Sierra Club's Utah chapter. "People have a right to breathe clean air."
On the other side of the issue, a coalition composed of petroleum, manufacturing and mining interests has filed a petition to intervene on behalf of the state, which is asking the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to overturn the EPA's decision.
The EPA in January rejected a request by the state to have the Wasatch Front redesignated as an "attainment area" for ground-level ozone, also known as smog, which can cause serious respiratory problems. Davis and Salt Lake counties are currently considered "nonattainment areas" for the pollutant, meaning the counties have violated the EPA standard.
But the standard has not been violated for the past three years, making the area eligible for attainment. Had the EPA accepted the request for redesignation, Utah would not have been compelled to do a "state implementation plan," whose ozone-control measures could cripple the economy.
State and industry leaders believe the EPA has been unreasonable in denying the redesignation request, which included a "maintenance plan" to stay within attainment.
"The EPA rejected it not on any substantive issues but on procedural things," said Jim Peacock, president of the Utah Petroleum Association, which joined other industries in opposing the EPA's action. "We believe that the EPA erred in not reviewing the substantive content of the state's application."
If the state does not prevail in its lawsuit, it will be forced to implement measures to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds by 15 percent. VOCs, emitted by the burning of petroleum products, are a major ingredient of ozone.
"If EPA goes ahead with the 15 percent reduction of VOCs, that's going to interfere with jobs and economy throughout the metropolitan area (and) will reverberate throughout the whole state," said Peacock. "It will impact driving and your lawnmowers and backyard grills."
Endicott, on the other hand, said the state is going to have to take drastic measures sooner or later because of the explosive growth along the Wasatch Front.
That growth is going to make it difficult for the state to continue its three-year trend of not violating the ozone standard, said Douglas Skie, chief of the EPA's air programs branch.
Although the state's request was rejected on procedural technicalities, it probably would not have been accepted on its substantive merits, Skie said.
Besides, Congress may toughen the ozone standard, an act that would automatically keep much of the Wasatch Front out of attainment in the absence of stringent regulations.
"Combine all these things and it becomes clear that we do need to clean up our air further than we've been doing," Endicott said.