In exchange for providing 20% of California’s electricity Utah gets more pollution, according to an article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune.
I pass the Intermountain Power Project Plant when I go camping in the Thomas Range of Utah’s West Desert. You can see the plumes of steam from miles away. It is one of four plants that provides California’s electricity.
According to the article, Greenhouse gases are expected to blanket the intermountain west for decades to come. According to the EPA, during 2002 and 2003, the IPP plant near Delta emitted an average of 14.95 million tons per year of carbon dioxide. “These annual emissions are equivalent to those from 2.6 million cars,” said Jana Milford, Environmental Defense senior scientist.
By comparison, in 2003, 1.7 million cars, trucks and motorcycles were registered in Utah, said Peter Verschoor, a Utah Division of Air Quality scientist who monitors vehicle-related emissions.
Even though measures have supposedly been taken to improve the air quality which has been effected by these plants, it’s not working. And even though it is recognized that other methods of generating fuel would be better for the environment, we are stuck with the way things are due to the long-term contracts with the plants and their customers. This means that not only is the pollution to continue, but it is calculated that California’s share of IPP’s greenhouse gas emissions will total 329 million tons during the next 22 years.
Yet another example of how Utah is being used as a
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 