Category: News

  • Monitoring Matters: How Air-Quality Monitoring Helps Utah’s Air

    Air monitoring is the beginning–and the end–of everything we do at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to protect and improve Utah’s air.

  • Wood-Burning Restrictions Go into Effect November 1

    The Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) reminds residents that wood-burning restrictions go into effect November 1, 2018, and urges Utahns to use online and mobile tools to monitor daily PM2.5 levels.

  • Centro Civico Cleanup

    Although the cleanup at the Centro Cívico seemed pretty straightforward, navigating a solution required DEQ employees to solve problems, actively engage stakeholders, and address public concerns with a professional and fair approach.

  • Snow Blower Exchange Helps You Clean Your Driveway and Our Air

    DEQ, Rocky Mountain Power, and UCAIR are partnering for the first-annual 2018 Electric Snow Blower Exchange. The Exchange will offer 432 electric snow blowers at a discounted price to encourage the use of clean-emissions snow blowers during the inversion season. Registration begins October 1, 2018, and ends October 11, 2018.

  • Make Your Voice Heard and Your Comments Count

    Public participation matters! The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is committed to using the public notice and comment process to improve its decisionmaking. Here are some tips for making effective comments on agency permits, rules, and decisions.

  • Tips on Protecting Your Lungs During Wildfires

    Wondering what steps they can take to protect their health from wildfire smoke? Attached is a helpful graphic with a few tips on ways to ensure you and your loved ones can breathe easily.

  • Wildfire’s Impact on Our Environment

    Widespread wildfires in summertime —and, now, even springtime—are rapidly becoming the “new normal” in the American West. Along with the destruction and loss of forest caused by blazes, there are immediate and long-term environmental impacts that dramatically affect vital resources.

  • Curb Your Enthusiasm: How to Recycle Right in Utah

    Not all recycling is created equally. There are common household items that should never go in the general recycling bin. Here is what to do with the recyclable trash that doesn’t go to the curb.

  • Ozone: EPA Designates Marginal Nonattainment Areas in Utah

    The Wasatch Front and parts of the Uinta Basin were designated as Marginal nonattainment areas for ozone this week by the EPA. A Marginal designation is the least stringent classification for a nonattainment area and doesn’t require the state to submit a formal State Implementation Plan (SIP).

  • Asbestos in Your Home: Precaution, Not Panic

    Asbestos was once considered a “miracle material” for its heat-resistant properties, but we now know that airborne asbestos fibers can cause respiratory damage. Learn what to do if you find asbestos in your home, and remember, removal isn’t necessarily your best option.

  • Ogden Business Exchange – Voluntary Cleanup Program

    An Ogden Brownfields project tackled environmental uncertainties at the historic Ogden Union Stockyards. In approximately 1905, the 50-acre stockyards were a shipping point to on- and off-load livestock to the railroads. The stockyards eventually closed in 1971, and the property slowly fell into disrepair. Parts of the property were used for various other purposes, including…

  • The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI): What It Means, How It’s Used

    By Christine Osborne The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) is a public database that chronicles toxic chemical releases, transfers, waste management, and pollution-prevention activities throughout the United States. A recent Forbes article ranked Utah as the third-highest state in the country for toxic releases based on data in the TRI for the reporting year (RY) 2015. These same…

  • Water Quality and Macroinvertebrates: A Story under Every Rock

    By Amy Dickey What’s the first thing most people do when they walk up to a stream? Perhaps they feel it to check the temperature. Maybe they toss a stick and see how far downstream the water carries it, or cast a line to see if the fish are biting. I prefer to grab a…

  • DEQ: Tips for Making Public Comments Count

    By Donna Kemp Spangler I understand people’s frustrations when they take the time to submit a written or verbal public comment on a regulatory proposal and at the end of the process, the final rule or regulation doesn’t seem to reflect their comment. They walk away with a feeling their comment doesn’t really matter. That’s…

  • A Look Back: On the Scene after the Gold King Mine Spill

    By Christine Osborne This week, we take a look back at DEQ’s response to the Gold King Mine release two years ago. On August 5, 2015, EPA contractors were clearing debris from the opening of the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, when the blockage gave way, releasing three million gallons of acid mine drainage into…

  • DEQ Forecasters Keep Their Eyes on the Sky during Ozone Season

    By Kimberly Kreykes Like many people, my day starts with the weather forecast. Not just because it is my passion, but because it is my responsibility to stay informed — I am the lead air-quality forecaster for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) Division of Air Quality (DAQ). Along with two other DAQ forecasters,…

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