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SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of vocal coal miners and their families packed a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing Tuesday, urging federal adoption of a state plan addressing regional haze in Utah's national parks and wilderness areas.
The federal alternative, they argued, would only make the Wasatch Front's air pollution problem worse because they would be forced to relocate to the metropolitan area due to lost jobs.
"We're going to come here to get a job," warned Kim Mecham, who works at Skyline Mine. "We're carpenters, welders, we drive trucks and we are well-trained. We'll take those jobs and cause more pollution in your town."
The EPA held two public hearings at the Salt Lake City Main Library that gathered six hours of testimony for input on a pair of alternatives the agency is weighing to address reductions in regional haze — an aesthetic standard designed to improve visibility in scenic areas.
Utah Department of Environmental Quality regulators have submitted a Utah plan for federal consideration that rejects requiring the Hunter and Huntington power plants to install the most sophisticated air pollution technology.
Division of Air Quality Director Bryce Bird said such technology would mandate PacifiCorp install equipment costing nearly $600 million, which he said a decade of research shows would produce little improvement in regional haze because of the chemistry at play in the region.
Clean air advocacy groups such as HEAL Utah and other environmental organizations that include the Sierra Club have argued the technology is necessary — both from a public health and aesthetic standpoint — but critics of the federal plan said it will kill jobs in an industry already stressed by environmental regulations.
Carbon County Commissioner Jae Potter said the power plants and mineral extraction supports 80 percent of the local economy, and for every power plant job that goes away, five others are jeopardized or vanquished.
More stringent federal regulations that he argued won't improve already clear skies will impose an unnecessary hardship on the region.
"I really don't believe that the EPA can put attainment areas in a box," Potter said, stressing that Utah's regional haze conditions differ from other areas.
HEAL Utah Executive Director Matt Pacenza told EPA officials his organization does not believe the state plan is sufficient, as his group and others have sued over its alleged inadequacy in curtailing certain pollutants. Advanced technology, he said, does not mean a matter of jobs versus improved environmental conditions.
"I don't think we are lobbying for the end of coal power," Pacenza said. "Jobs and environmental improvement do not have to be at odds in this case."
Many industry supporters criticized the EPA for holding the hearing in Salt Lake City — instead Carbon or Emery counties where the coal mines and power plants are located — asserting the ugly haze of the city was a convenient and convincing backdrop to skew attitudes over a nonexistent problem.
"The scenery is easy to see because it is so clear," said Garrett Atwood, describing coal country. "The haze here is influencing decisions in Emery and Carbon counties."
Added Jeff Sego, "I have never seen the haze talked about in these areas."
The EPA is taking public comment on the dual proposals through mid-March and is expected to make a decision on which alternative will be adopted by early June.
