Air Pollution - 1966
1966
Statement of Position : AIR POLLUTION
The members of the League of Women Voters of Salt Lake agree that objective evidence of air pollution in the Salt Lake area justifies immediate and vigorous abatement activities. An abatement program should attempt to balance considerations of health, economics and aesthetics. An effective air pollution control program requires the cooperation of all three levels of government. The means of implementing such a program should include the following:
The existing air sampling program should be expanded in the Salt Lake area.
Air monitoring should continue to be the responsibility of a state agency in cooperation with the federal government.
Enforcement should be at the local level of government in compliance with standards set at the state or local level.
Local ordinances should be clarified and enforcement provisions should be enforced. Such ordinances should be enacted where lacking. Local government studies of alternate methods of refuse disposal should be continued.
Appropriate local agency or agencies should apply for available federal funds through the Clean Air Act.
In the absence of a state agency empowered to take emergency action in the event of an acute air pollution episode, a local agency should be given this authority.
The members of the Salt Lake League recommend the following state action:
State legislation should be enacted now which would require that standards of air quality be adopted. This legislation would delegate the determining of such standards to a qualified technical agency.
In view of the fact that federal law will require auto exhaust control devices on new cars beginning in 1968, new state legislation should (a) prohibit rendering inoperative these devices after sale, and (b) require periodic inspection of these devices.
April 1966
