Jen's Green Journal

A mother's day action from Utah Moms for Clean Air:

If you thought last winter's bad air days were horrible, then you'd be appalled that Intermountain Power Agency is looking to make them worse. They want to build another coal fired power plant in Delta and sell the energy out of state.

There's a meeting tonight that Utah Moms for Clean Air has asked members to attend. Huge turn out to meetings like this can have a big impact. The meeting is tonight at 7:00 pm at the West Bountiful City building (550 north 800 west):

Directions from Salt Lake City: going north on I-15, take the 400 north exit and go west over the highway. take a right at the first stop sign. the city building is on your right just after the school.

A letter from one of the organizers of Utah Moms for Clean Air wrote:

" . . .in essence, the intermountain
power agency (IPA) is trying to finance its third
coal-fired power plant in delta by selling energy to
small out-of-state minicpilities, such as wasco county
in oregon.

the reason why we need to show up at this meeting is
that this plant will be built in OUR state, WE will
suffer all of the toxic pollution consequences and
receive NONE of the energy generated, meanwhile,
orgeon gets cheap power at the expense of OUR
children's health. clearly, this is a moral and
ethical issue and as moms, we must stand up for our
children's right to breathe clean air."

You don't have to be a mom to show up at this protest -- just a Utah resident concerned about our air quality:

Did you know . . .

• that Logan's air ranks 5th worst in the nation and that Salt Lake City's air is 7th worst?

• that infants' lungs are not fully developed at birth, and children living in areas with high pollution will never  fully develop their lungs?

Clear the air action:

• Industry lobbyists usually have access to our lawmakers and regulatory agencies. The best way to combat that is to let our officials know what you, the average citizens of this state, want.  That's why Utah Moms for Clean Air is encouraging us to write a short note or post card  to the Air Quality Board to let them know that we our concerned about our air quality:

I'm focusing on clean air in Utah for the month of May, in honor of the formation of Utah Moms for Clean Air.

Did you know . . .

• The poor air quality in the Salt Lake Valley shaves off an average of two years per person's life span?
• Each red alert day is equivalent  to smoking half a pack of cigarettes? With 22 red alert days this past winter, each one of us -- including babies and children -- has had the equivalent of smoking 11 packs of cigarettes this year.

Citizen action of the day:

Sign up for at least 1 block of wind power from Rocky Mountain Power's Blue Sky program, and if you are able, enough blocks to cover your power usage for the month. Each block costs $1.95 per month and covers a 100 kilowatt-hour increment.  Buying Blue Sky blocks encourages the development of clean wind power and reduces the demand of electricity from coal-fired plants which causes a significant amount of our dirty air.

http://utahmomsforcleanair.org/ - site is up. Plans for it (coming soon) will include interactive forums so that you can get involved in ways that best fit your interests and/or talents.