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Air pollution has always been a concern in the Salt Lake Valley due it its topography and industrial history. As early as 1890, anti-pollution regulations were in place, beginning with an ordinance to regulate the burning of soft coal.
The city’s commission hired its first smoke inspector in 1915 to measure the density of smoke clouds and to keep watch over industrial polluters.
Air pollution became a primary concern in the 1920s due to the use of fossil fuels to heat homes, run factories, and power vehicles. In 1919, a cooperative study by Salt Lake City, the University of Utah, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines was conducted to research and offer solutions to the problem. By 1922, the air had improved somewhat through education, demonstration, and supervision of industrial and railroad operations. By 1926, residential furnaces were to blame for 75% of the smoke.
Technological advances in furnaces and stoves helped to improve air quality until after World War II when automobiles became one of the primary polluters. Starting in the 1960s, automakers would begin efforts to reduce harmful emissions and states would begin to create emission laws. California was the first in 1960. In 1965, the “Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Act” created national standards to reduce auto emissions and the “Air Quality Act” gave the government the authority to set clean-air standards for all the states. The catalytic converter became a new standard feature in cars.
In 1979, the Salt lake County Council of Governments gave the Salt Lake City-County Board of Health the responsibility for developing a vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program for Salt Lake County, to be implemented by December 31, 1981.
Sources:
Alexander, Thomas A. Grace & Granduer: A History of Salt Lake City (Carlsbad, California: Heritage Media Corporation, 2001), 64.
Sillitoe,Linda. Welcoming the World (Salt Lake County, Utah: 1996), 121-128.
The Impact of the Automobile on the 20th Century. http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/automobile/timeline.html Last accessed: 9/18/07.
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