Governor Announces Air Quality Initiative

Flanked by representatives from business, healthcare and growth planning organizations, Gov. Gary R. Herbert called Utahns to action and urged them to do their part to improve Utah’s air quality. The initiative, the Utah Clean Air Partnership (U-CAIR), is an invitation to all partners currently working toward cleaner air to join forces and motivate individual Utahns to change their beliefs and the behaviors that impact state air quality.

“Air quality affects us all. It is vital to our health, the economy, and our quality of life,” Herbert said. “I firmly believe that the solutions to Utah’s air quality problems must come from Utah, not the federal government, and that is why I am announcing this statewide clean air initiative.”

There are four main components of Herbert’s U-CAIR initiative. First, it is statewide, designed to include every area in the state and target trouble spots like the Wasatch Front, the Uintah Basin, Cache Valley and the Arizona border region. Second, the initiative is voluntary. Third, the initiative has a significant public education and outreach component, much like the successful “Slow the Flow” effort, aimed at water conservation. The last U-CAIR component is partnerships. Not only has Herbert asked business and industry to continue their efforts, he will recruit local governments, school districts, local chambers of commerce and individual households to become pledging partners.

“The core principle of U-CAIR is this: Each of us can do something to improve Utah’s air,” Herbert  said. U-CAIR initiative details are available at ucair.utah.gov. On the U-CAIR website, partners can find specific strategies for improving air quality; make organizational, family, and individual air quality pledges; track their progress toward reaching those pledges; and measure the benefits of collective partner efforts.
(2.1.12)