As members of the state legislature considers $28 million worth of proposals intended to improve air quality, residents in Cache Valley gathered at the Logan Library on Saturday to join other residents across Utah.
“Air is an inalienable right. I mean, come on folks, we should have clean air and clean water.”
Kate Stephens, a volunteer for Utah Mom’s for Clean Air, organized the rally at the library and said she believes people in general care about other human beings and children exposed to air pollution suffer.
“Children who are exposed to air pollution will likely never develop full lung capacity as adults," Stephens said. "And air pollution exacerbates existing asthma in both adults and children.”
Gov. Gary Herbert, said he is working with law makers to pass more this session.
“I’m working with representative Steve Handy," Herbert said. "To reintroduce a bill to invest $20 million to replace old school buses with cleaner, lower emission models.”
Cache Valley law-maker Ed Redd was at the rally Saturday.
“When people start to take some self-assessments and say, ‘Okay, I can see that everybody’s got to be a part of the solution. It can’t be just one person or one group of people or just the wood-burning stove people or just the people that have pick-up trucks or whatever,'" Redd said. "Everybody’s got to work at it.”
In addition to upgrading to clean-fuel school buses, the Governor is also looking at providing transit passes to state workers and fund research to identify and control pollutants.