OUR VIEW: Cache should require vehicle emissions tests

Hug a tree. Not because you love that tree, but simply because in the next few months, it might be your only source of clean air in Cache Valley. The winter season is slowly creeping upon us, along with the chill that sticks to your bones like a spoonful of peanut butter in the roof of your mouth. Air quality in Cache Valley has already started to go downhill and probably won’t get any better.

As a community, we need to rally around those who are trying to help keep the community’s health and support the decisions that are being made. One decision that hasn’t been made, but needs to be, is requiring emissions testing on vehicles in the valley. These tests will help keep the air in the valley clean and bearable for all residents.

Emissions testing can coincide with the Logan City Police and its “Smoking Vehicle” guidelines. Because of these guidelines, officers have been issuing fix-it tickets to vehicles that produce visible exhaust from their vehicle. These tickets have been a step in the right direction, but by no means have made any significant dent in the overall air quality in the valley.

Ensuring our quality of life means taking whatever steps are necessary. If Cache County places mandatory emissions testing as a law, then people will need to obey. There might be dissenters, but their lives and the lives of their families are more important than a $10 emissions test.