Fox 13 News: Mayors Urge Utah Lawmakers to Deal with Dirty Air

Hopefully Mayor Mike will keep the pressure on Governor Herbert and the Utah Legislature to get off their derrieres and do something about Utah's toxic air, which, sadly, is among the worst in the nation

Breathe much?

A hearty Weber County Tip O' the Hat to Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell for joining with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and going public with a plea to the state legislature to do something about our increasing Wasatch Front air pollution. According to Fox 13 News, "[on] Thursday, the mayors of Salt Lake City and Ogden unveiled a list of proposals to deal with Utah’s air quality, including more emphasis on people to drive less and use more mass transit. The mayors also pushed for legislative and regulatory actions to improve the air":

Here's Mayor Mike's comment on this issue, urging a bi-partison legislative and regulatory approach:

Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell said the air quality is an issue that affects both Republicans and Democrats, and it’s bad for business.
“I’ve certainly heard from a lot of those businesses that have relocated in the outdoor industry and say, ‘Hey this is a real issue. It needs to be given serious attention,’ and that’s the business side,” Caldwell said. “But there’s the regular resident that wants to get around and they may have asthma and breathing problems or they just want to go out and exercise.”

As an added bonus, we embed below yesterday's full Fox News video story:


We'll also delightedly remark in passing that it's great to finally have a mayor in Ogden who's truly worthy of high praise, for the first mayoral term of office during the nearly eight years of Weber County Forum's web publishing existence. Granted, Caldwell's predecessor did set the performance bar at a dismally low level.

Hopefully Mayor Mike will keep the pressure on Governor Herbert and the Utah Legislature to get off their derrieres and do something about Utah's toxic air, which, sadly, is among the worst in the nation. As Mayor Mike sez, bad air is bad for business, especially when we're touting ourselves as an outdoor recreation mecca. Our supposedly business-oriented Utah elected officials should immediately write this down so they don't forget it, no?

Great job, Mayor Caldwell. We're proud of ya's.

Update 2/15/13 4:33 p.m.: More on this story from the Salt Lake Tribune:

• Mayors join chorus seeking cleaner air imperatives from Legislature