Rio Tinto Kennecott, Chevron and Salt Lake County Health Department have partnered with Utah Clean Air to provide a gas can exchange. Residents are encouraged to exchange their old, leaky gas cans for new ones to help improve air quality.  

“We are excited to continue our partnership with UCAIR and the gas can exchange in supporting Utah households with opportunities to reduce their emissions.” Jenny Esker said, Rio Tinto Kennecott air quality principal advisor and UCAIR board member.

UCAIR has been around since 2012. They started the gas can exchange in 2015. Since that time they have exchanged about 13,000 old leaky gas cans for new, EPA-approved cans. On June 8 UCAIR held the annual gas can exchange. In the fall they will do a leaf blower exchange where you can turn in your leaf blower for an electric one. Running a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour releases the same emissions as driving from Ogden to Disneyland. An electric powered leaf blower is better for our air quality. 

“We can help keep Utah's air clean by reducing our emissions and be part of our collective work that we need to continue here to improve our air quality. Roughly 70% of the emissions that cause our inversions and our summer ozone are our cars and homes. We as individuals play an important role in reducing emissions and creating a healthier environment,” Lindsie Smith said, executive director of UCAIR. 

Old gas cans leak up to 1,400 tons of volatile organic compounds every year This is a huge cause for the air quality problems in Utah. By participating in the gas can exchange residents can help the air quality in Utah. 

Breathing clean air is essential for our health. Poor air quality can cause coughing and lung congestion. Air pollution has been known to cause strokes and heart attacks. Breathing clean air can lessen occurrences of heart disease, strokes, lung cancer and acute lung diseases such as asthma. 

In addition to participating in programs such as the gas can exchange and leaf blower exchange, there are things we can all do to help improve the air quality. Limiting idling of our cars, carpooling, working from home, using public transit and adjusting our thermostats can make a difference. Many employers are more keen now on letting their employees work from home on bad air quality days. The mountains in the Salt Lake Valley create a bowl and cool air gets trapped, causing an air inversion, which traps pollution as well. The pollution doubles during an inversion. The air will clear up with a storm or heavy winds. Working from home will help with clean air. If you can't telework there are other ways to help, like  riding your bike, skipping that extra trip, planning ahead, trip chaining or having an alternate work schedule. 

The Department of Environmental Quality is improving Utah’s land, air and water by balancing and regulating data; they also use data they get from UCAIR. DAQ is responsible for providing air quality data for Utah. 

UCAIR was founded by Gov. Gary Herbert and Ted Wilson. It was a great bi-partisan idea to bring people together so that we can all come together and make a change.  

To find out more about helping with clean air visit UCAIR.org. “In addition to our exchange programs, we have other educational opportunities, such as a grants program to support small projects in the community that are innovative and have people reduce their emissions,” Smith said. λ