SALT LAKE CITY — Some lawmakers are looking at who should be making the rules when it comes to Utah's air quality standards.
Leaders of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality appeared before the Utah State Legislature's Federalism Commission on Tuesday where they discussed pending air quality regulations. Some proposed rules include restrictions on certain types of equipment (for example, two-stroke engines) and newer gasoline standards.
But some lawmakers questioned why the Utah Air Quality Board is imposing regulations instead of elected lawmakers. The legislature does vote to authorize administrative rules that a state agency advances.
"It may be within the purview and it may be necessary for this legislature to review the delegation of those powers and maybe bring some of those back," said Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise. "Not because we’re saying anything here is right or wrong. That’s certainly not what I'm insinuating here. But we are responsible to those that have elected us here."
When it comes to air quality, Utah has constantly faced scrutiny from the federal government and been in and out of attainment of EPA standards. But Bryce Bird, the director of Utah's Division of Air Quality, told the commission that Utah has made improvements.
"Our winters are getting much cleaner. So we typically see five to seven days where we exceed the federal standards. This past summer, it was over 40 days we exceeded the federal ozone standard," he said.
When it comes to federal environmental standards, some members of the Federalism Commission envision a friendlier White House.
"We did have an election the other day and we got a lot of changes nationally. So I think a lot of the changes the new administration is talking about will affect the rules you’re dealing with," Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, told Bird.
Deeda Seed with the Center for Biological Diversity said lawmakers may face public pushback if they try to loosen air quality standards. She pursued litigation against the EPA for not holding Utah accountable for bad air days.
"Right now, we’re facing really serous new challenges in the form of the Great Salt Lake drying up, dust from the lake, ozone from the lake drying up," Seed said. "We need to have our state agencies fully empowered to address the human health consequences of that. That’s what we pay them with our tax dollars to do."
