Bad air hurts Utah | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As a business person and property owner with operations and holdings in the Salt Lake region, I am concerned with the trend away from air-quality controls.

I have worked with dozens of Utah's most recognizable businesses that believe the collective negative impact of largely unregulated airborne emissions on our air quality, viewsheds, watersheds and snowpack threatens broad aspects of Utah's economy and its property values.

Utah's natural beauty is a globally recognized resource, drawing national and international commercial interests, including clients of mine from as far away as India. However, after experiencing our choking inversions, other clients have bypassed Utah.

The low cost of inadequately filtered coal-fired power generation and industrial activity bears a high cost in the health and productivity of our workforce and in our international allure as a place to live, work, vacation and recreate.

If we need to support industry to adjust to change, then let's do that, but the basis for it must be a recognition that clean air is the best fuel for our economic future.

Alexander Lofft

Salt Lake City