Deseret News
HB45 proposes a radon task force to study solutions
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Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
One year ago, the Deseret News published the story of Dustin Wallis, a 39-year-old, nonsmoking father of two young children who had just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
In “The Radioactive Killer,” a multipart series, we explained how the leading cause of lung cancer for nonsmokers is radon an invisible, odorless carcinogenic gas that’s produced as uranium breaks down in the soil.
As a result of the coverage, Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, said he introduced HB45 to create a radon task force that would study the issue for the next 18 months.
Wind farms and massive arrays of solar panels are cropping up across public and private landscapes both in the United States and abroad as users increasingly turn to “green energy” as their preferred flavor of electricity.
President Joe Biden, in fact, has directed the Interior Department to identify suitable places to host 20 gigawatts of new energy from sun, wind or geothermal resources by 2024 as part of a sweeping effort to move away from a carbon-based economy and electrical grid.
But how green is green?
Although countries are feverishly looking to install wind and solar farms to wean themselves off carbon-based, or so-called “dirty” energy, few countries, operators and the industry itself have yet to fully tackle the long-term consequences of how to dispose of these systems, which have their own environmental hazards like toxic metals, oil, fiberglass and other material.
efficient school buses to reduce pollution and protect the environment
BANNOCKBURN, Ill., Jan. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Stericycle, Inc. today announced it has entered into a settlement agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to settle a civil investigation into alleged air emission exceedances at its North Salt Lake, Utah, incineration facility that occurred more than seven years ago between September 2012 and May 2013.
As part of the settlement, Stericycle will contribute $2 million to support a Supplemental Environmental Project to replace older, higher-emitting school buses in the Davis County School District and will pay a civil penalty of $600,000 to the United States government. Since vehicles are one of the leading causes of air pollution, the Supplemental Environmental Project will improve air quality in the area and aligns with Stericycle s core purpose of protecting people, promoting health and safeguarding the environment.
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Utah is entering the worst of its inversion season, which is when cold air near the ground is trapped by warm air above, giving pollutants nowhere to go. This story and more in the Thursday morning news brief.
Thursday morning, January 7, 2021
State
Utah Delegation On Election Results
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the Senate can’t change the results of a presidential election once they’ve been certified by the Electoral College. Several Congressional Republicans objected to results from swing states as they were read on the floor Wednesday night. But Lee held a pocket-size copy of the constitution during his speech on the Senate floor. This simply isn t how our federal system is supposed to work,” he said. “Our job is to convene to open the ballots and to count them. That s it.”
Deseret News
It may be clear now in Salt Lake City, but could get worse
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Steve Griffin, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY The air quality conditions along the Wasatch Front Wednesday are good, with values of fine-particulate pollution well below the federal threshold set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
So why does the forecast from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality over the next three days describe conditions as moderate?
The contradiction is part of the agency’s efforts to be proactive, sort of a shot over the bow to urge residents to reduce emissions from homes and vehicles before conditions get worse.