The Seine River’s polluted waters and its disruption of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics should be a wakeup call for Utah and organizers of Salt Lake’s 2034 Winter Olympics. Paris had been laboring for decades to clean the river, and the mayor even swam it prior to the Games to show the world that it was safe. When tests showed hazardous E. coli bacteria levels during the Games, however, the men’s triathlon race was postponed with talk about canceling the triathlon’s swimming competition if conditions didn’t improve.
Later, three swimmers reported becoming sick after another open water event. Though it was not immediately clear if the fouled waters were responsible, the implications were scathing. The embarrassing distractions of a polluted river tarnished Paris’s otherwise triumphant hosting of the Summer Olympics.
Utah’s own environmental crises — air pollution and desiccation of the Great Salt Lake — could become the humiliation of Salt Lake’s Winter Olympics in 2034 if we don’t act now.
Can you imagine in 2034 postponing or canceling a sporting event because of air pollution? Or people getting sick? Don’t scoff — it’s already happening.
In 2021, for example, BYU Football canceled its Cougar Kickoff due to unhealthy wildfire smoke. And numerous studies have long shown that Utah’s dirty air continues to threaten Utahns’ health, causing asthma, COPD and other cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Indeed, one study has reported a spike in emergency room visits during Utah’s bad air days, and another has found Utah’s air pollution is linked to 2,480 to 8,000 premature deaths annually.
For many, the greatest fear for February 2034 is that hundreds of thousands of Olympic fans will descend onto Salt Lake City, drive here and there to events and intensify smog-filled inversions. Media cameras will broadcast images of those toxic clouds around the world as if to say, “This is not the place” to be.
This would sully Utah’s image, jeopardize dreams of Utah becoming the premier winter Olympic training hub and torpedo myriad spinoff economic opportunities and jobs.
Fortunately, we have time to clean up our air. But it will take dedicated leadership from our governor and Legislature, alongside cooperation from our industries and communities.
Transportation is the largest source of Utah’s winter air pollution. Thus, we need policies to reduce traffic congestion and the number of car trips driven by Utahns through encouraging remote work, funding access to convenient public transportation and creating walkable/bikeable communities of mixed housing, retail, green space and entertainment.
We also need incentives to electrify vehicle fleets, buildings and even snow blowers to slash fossil fuel use in the Salt Lake Valley.
Utah drivers must reduce car idling. They should keep in mind that modern cars don’t need to be warmed up and should strive to carpool, avoid the drive thru, use public transportation and walk or bike when possible.
The Great Salt Lake’s shrinkage is directly tied to Utah’s air pollution. Dust from the exposed lakebed — laced with arsenic, mercury, lead and other substances of concern — is blown into the Salt Lake Valley and along the Wasatch Front, exacerbating our dirty air. Consequently, we need policies to funnel more water to the lake. That could include requiring water reductions from agricultural, municipal and industrial sectors, as well as extractive activities adjacent to the lake.
Higher water rates are also necessary to reduce consumption and, given Utah’s booming population growth, communities must accept increased density housing, smaller lawns and xeriscape landscaping.
Additionally, Utah utilities must move beyond their dependency on polluting and water-guzzling coal- and gas-fired electricity to cleaner, water-free energy sources, such as wind, photovoltaic solar and battery storage. This would free billions of gallons of water annually.
Remember Salt Lake’s 2002 Winter Olympic mascots Coal, Copper and Powder? For 2034, we should retire Coal and Copper so Powder can remain in our future, joined instead by two new companions named Sunny and Sky. The new mascots would herald solar energy’s vast potential in the state and remind Utahns of our desire to see clear blue skies come winter 2034.
If we get this right, our legacy for 2034 won’t be the dishonor of noxious haze telecast around the world. Rather, it will be a victory of how Utahns became bold stewards of our air and the Great Salt Lake to win the gold for quality of life and rightfully proclaim, “This is the place for the greatest Winter Olympic Games on earth.”
(Photo courtesy of Edwin R. Stafford) Edwin R. Stafford
Edwin R. Stafford teaches marketing at Utah State University and co-leads the annual Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest.
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