Air quality is always a hot topic in Utah. We’re not telling you anything you don’t already know because it’s one of those things that, on certain days, you can see and feel.
That’s why we were proud to participate in a recent story in The Salt Lake Tribune that tackled the topic from a variety of different angles. The article “Utah’s air quality has been harming your health for years, but tourism is now in the crossfire” by Megan Banta dives deep into the issue as she talks to several experts and stakeholders about the sources of our air quality issues, as well as what’s being done to address those issues. From the article:
“Utah has two air pollution seasons, said Bryce Bird, who directs the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s air quality division.
“In winter, the Wasatch Front and Uintah Basin experience inversions, where cold air at the surface gets trapped under a layer of warmer air and makes pollutants build up to unhealthy levels.
“That means emissions from vehicles and consumer products like single-stroke lawn equipment build up in the Salt Lake Valley, and oil and gas industry emissions build up in the Uintah Basin, especially when there is snow on the ground.
“Summer presents different challenges, as wildfire smoke filters into the state’s valleys and basins, and hot, dry conditions make ground-level ozone a problem. Unlike the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, ground-level ozone is created by chemical reactions when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, refineries and other sources react in sunlight.”
Our industry is comprised of people who live, work and play here, so it’s only natural that we would all have an interest in remedying this issue. That’s why our refineries have made multimillion-dollar investments resulting in double digit reductions in air emissions within their fencelines and delivered on their commitment to produce Tier 3 fuels that drive down the amount of pollutants emitted by our vehicles. That’s also why we’ve worked with the team at Bingham Research Center for a little more than three years to help with air quality issues using an alert system for ozone levels that includes forecasting.
As a result of that collaboration, we’ve also instituted our Latch the Hatch program that uses signage, contractor education and technology improvements to reduce emissions by making sure thief hatches — closable openings at the top of production tanks — are properly sealed. There’s a lot more here, so click here to read the entire article.
The program started as an effort to always ensure the closure of thief hatches on tanks, as any open hatches can be a source of emissions. It rapidly expanded to include additional actions such as:
- Conducting flyovers to detect emissions so that operators can fix leaks.
- Modifying or replacing equipment operated by natural gas to eliminate emissions.
- Installing solar-powered equipment to eliminate emissions from engines and compressed gas.
- Upgrading gaskets on tank hatches to reduce deterioration and installing alarms to indicate when a hatch has been left open.
This demonstrates that we can indeed have the energy we need and the environment we want. It takes dedication, innovation and collaboration, but we’re walking the walk every day.
