“It is a little known but horrible fact that out of state vehicles are polluting Moab’s clean air at an alarming rate. No, we don’t mean from their exhaust, even though that is also a problem that does cause concern. It is a much less obvious and far insidious than that.
“The real pollution comes from tires. Yes, tires. It seems the off-road enthusiasts that visit our area to do what they call “four-wheeling” are letting the air out of their tires. Now these tires have been filled with air that has many impurities in it besides oxygen. Yes, the stuff that makes up ‘smog’. Can you imagine what kind of toxins fill the tires of vehicles from areas like Southern California, which have very polluted air? Over the period of one month, with Easter Week falling in the middle, there were over 5,000 vehicles from out of state in the Moab area. We have no doubts that each one of these vehicles did what we understand is called ‘airing down’, to provide better traction. If you consider that each tire contains about 2 cubic feet of air, and multiply that times 4 tires, it’s 8 cubic feet of air per vehicle. That doesn’t seem so bad, until you realize that 5,000 vehicles are releasing 8 cubic feet each. That works out to be an astonishing 40,000 cubic feet of ‘air’ (actual air mixed with nitrogen oxides, tropospheric ozone, volatile organic compounds and peroxyacyl nitrates) that is put into Moab’s environment! Now not only are these out-of-towner's polluting Moab’s clean air at an alarming rate, they are ‘airing up’ (refilling) their tires before they head home. Where does this new air come from? Yes, you got it, good clean Moab air – because, by the time they leave, the noxious fumes that they released when they got there have probably largely dissipated. Just when our air is about to return to normal, they steal it!
“We purpose a country wide ordinance that all ‘airing down’ or ‘airing up’ be done at home. Every off-road vehicle, when it crosses into Grand County, must be inspected. If the tires are not at 15 psi or less, the drivers must reduce their air pressure at a Certified Air Station to be known as a CAS. Each CAS will have a collection tank for the air that comes out of the tire and it will be stored until it’s ready to be used again for ‘airing up’. This way they can take back their dirty air and the air quality in Moab will not be compromised. Here will be a charge of $1.00 per tire for each operation. There will be an attendant on hand to collect the money and to make sure no foul air escapes. They will be given a certification of compliance when they leave the CAS. They will be subject to ‘spot checks’ at any time during their stay, to ensure that they have not released any further pollutants into the environment.
“This may seem extreme to some, and admittedly will cause our visitors some inconvenience, but we, the residents of Moab, deserve pure air. Our plans will not only reduce pollution, it will generate income for the country as well, which can be used for a worthy cause. Please join us at the next Grand County meeting to help us get this important measure voted on as soon as possible.
