OUR VIEW: Emissions testing could clean up air

As the country that causes the most pollution and creates the most waste, America has a responsibility to control the damage we are doing to the earth.

The government is spending millions of dollars researching alternative energy sources and developing cars that take different types of fuel. There is advertising everywhere suggesting that Americans should drive less, carpool, and own smaller vehicles that emit less gas.

But there is a more obvious way to tackle the problem of pollution right here in Cache Valley.

In order to register a car in Logan, the car doesn’t need to pass an emissions test. It can chug out clouds of gas and legally drive around the city polluting the air. If the government wants to save the environment, requiring an emissions test everywhere would be much more lucrative than the other expensive measures they are taking to save the environment.

The existing programs are good, but they seem ridiculously expensive and not very effective compared to requiring an emissions test. In addition to funding programs that may not improve the air quality for at least a decade, the government needs to do something about the pollution problem now.

No one wants to live in the type of smog Logan had during the last inversion. This generation probably won’t have to do that on a regular basis, but if something doesn’t change, the next few generations will be condemned to that fate.