Never mind the air | 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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Salt Lake City recently announced plans to again bid to host the Winter Olympics ("Utah leaders back quest for another Olympics," Tribune, Dec. 4). Given the worldwide publicity of our unhealthy inversions, I can't imagine the International Olympic Committee bringing world-class athletes here to breathe this air.

Before we make a bid, we've got to clean up our image, and that means cleaning up our air. And that means wide use of hybrid and electric cars (how about a state incentive to buy hybrids?), state-of-the-art regulation on emissions by refineries and other industries and free public transit.

In last Sunday's New York Times, Gov. Gary Herbert said, "We're doing everything we can," which is: urging people to take mass transit, meeting with energy companies to develop emission reduction plans and reducing use of state vehicles.

Ha! Requests for voluntary help from drivers and industry won't cut it, and reining in the state's fleet isn't even a drop in the bucket. Face it, Utah's not serious about solving this problem.

If we're going to go for Olympic gold, let's give the world the model way to address pollution, not a political whitewash. Who do we think we are? Beijing?

Curtis Wilde

Salt Lake City