Standard Examiner
March 05, 2017
Utah’s 45-day legislative session ends Thursday. But that still leaves plenty of time to pass House Bill 134.
And it needs to pass.
Because HB 134 is a powerful tool to improve Utah air quality.
HB 134, sponsored by Rep. Patrice Arent, makes diesel emissions testing mandatory in Utah’s five non-attainment counties — counties failing to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM 2.5 pollution.
If the initiative sounds familiar, it should. After a long, contentious process, the Weber-Morgan Health Board approved diesel emissions testing in September 2016. Arent, founder and co-chair of the Clean Air Caucus, modeled her bill on Weber County’s program.
“What this bill says if you’re a non-attainment county already doing emissions testing for gasoline vehicles, you also need to test diesel,” Arent told Leia Larsen, a reporter for the Standard-Examiner. “When you look at the health issues here this is serious. Diesel emissions are really bad.”
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