OUR VIEW: Taking responsibility: emissions tests?

Logan’s air isn’t pretty.

As we drive, our cars spew pollutants into the air, filling the valley with particulate matter 2.5, which creates the filthy-tasting haze that sits over Logan and obstructs our view of the Wellsville Mountains. The haze is unhealthy and miserable, inspiring even those who normally walk to drive wherever they’re going in order to spend as little time outside as possible. Instead of limiting our driving, we collectively increase it. And the haze thickens – it’s “Cache” 22 (ha ha).

Now, we understand it can be frustrating trying to get around Logan just using the bus system. And riding a bike isn’t always easy to do, especially in the cold Utah air. We all drive our cars, and it is contributing to the brown haze over the skyline.

Every two years everyone with a car registered in Utah has to get safety tests to make sure there are no bad windshields or faulty brakes. But unlike Cache Valley’s inversion twin, Salt Lake Valley, Logan residents don’t have to have emissions tests for their cars.

Salt Lake still has bad air, but Logan doesn’t have the same population or industrialization. Cars polluting less can make a difference.

We have heard people say there are too many students with old cars to make emissions testing a realistic goal. Some people simply don’t want to have to pay the money to get their cars tested or brought up to standards. That’s understandable. It will cost money for some people. However, the payoff in better health will benefit everyone.

You may not like the idea of having to get a car that doesn’t spew a black cloud into the air every time you press on the gas pedal, and you might not like the idea of another step in the state-mandated testing, but at some point, we must take responsibility for the place in which we live. The population is increasing, as is the number of people who own cars, so let’s actually take steps to help the problem.

Why doesn’t Logan require emissions testing? Living in a giant bowl as we do, a commitment to better air is a necessary step to a cleaner environment and a healthier place for people to live.