From: Geoff Colbath
To: Rep. McKell, M.,
Subject: Please support the clean air measures this session
Date: 2014-02-13T17:25:49Z
Body:
Esteemed Senators and Representatives,


I am writing you to urge you to support the measures aimed at cleaning up Utah's notoriously polluted air--both in and out of inversion seasons.


As much as I love a roaring fire in the fireplace or wood stove, I support Gov. Herbert's call for a ban on wood burning during inversion seasons in our most polluted counties. I also wholeheartedly support SB 164 which will allow Utah to fix problems for Utah. Frankly, I'm surprised that such a pioneering state would not want to go above and beyond federal regulations, since they know what's best for Utah better than the Federal Government.

I don't want to place the onus solely on people who rely on wood to heat their homes, so we also need to look at the big industrial polluters like Rio Tinto, Stericycle, and US Magnesium, as well as adopting much stricter emissions standards--not only for automobiles, but also off-road vehicles and even lawn care machinery. California has gone a long way to improving their air quality by scrutinizing the emissions of every fossil-fuel-burning machine that enters the state. While this might seem cumbersome, we must do our best to limit the pollution from every contributing source.


As a Utah voter, I am one of 9,000 people who signed the current petition (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/utah-clean-air-no-excuses?mailing_id=19407&source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=1392089), one of 4,00 people who attended the historic rally at the Capitol, and I expect you to support all the other bills before the legislature that will help us clean up our air.


As Utah's population and economy continues to grow, we must establish rules and standards by witch our society conducts itself in order to protect its health and future.


Thank you very much for your time and understanding.


Kind regards,

Geoff Colbath
Interaction Designer
Salt Lake City, UT

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