The article in Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune, “Clearing the Air,” was in reference to the air pollution in the valley. I find the subject as redundant as mass shootings. We talk the talk, but we continue to not walk the walk. Why is that? Why is it that we complain about the pollution, and complain, and we never do anything about curing the problem.
We need more incentives such as tax credits or discount passes for people to use mass transit. We need to not only encourage people to carpool, but give a tax break to those who provide carpool vans to employees, as well as businesses that provide carpooling for their employees.
We also should stop penalizing people who are using solar and wind to power their homes. And provide larger rebates for people who want to install solar or wind equipment.
If we do not start sacrificing now, we will all be in a position in a few years that gas masks will have to be issued for us to survive.
Also, we do not need an inland port, which will bring not only trains loaded with containers, but also the mass expansion of trucking firms to haul all these goods out of the valley. We don't need more industry and polluters in the valley, but innovative ideas, to put these industries in areas that do not impact the Wasatch Front, to the point we all have to pack oxygen bottles around in order to breathe.
The time for studies and hearings is over. It’s time for actual solutions, and commitment by all of us to sacrifice a little, to save our world from a disaster that our children, and their children, will have to solve.
Charles Glaser, West Valley City
