5 Ways Tar Sands Threatens Utah’s Air Quality

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1.)  Refining tar sands emits more deadly pollution than regular crude oil refining.

2.)  Trucking the tar sands to Salt Lake will worsen air pollution especially the PM 2.5s and other toxic diesel exhaust.

3.)  Significant amounts of radio-active Uranium are present in Utah tar sands would be released to the environment when processed in the Salt Lake refineries.

4.)  Tar Sand strip mining and refining will require extensive publicly financed road building and electrical and airport infrastructure expansions all impacting our air quality and without sufficient tax or fees thus reducing our ability to invest in clean air solutions.

5.)  Tar Sands would require vast amounts of water increasing the aridity and related air pollution in our State.  Tar sands could leech waste and hazardous minerals into the White, Green and Colorado Rivers. We have other sources of energy but the 30 million consumers of Colorado River water do not have another source of water.

Read our sources after the jump.

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