A kind of scientific SWAT team is getting ready to swarm the Uinta Basin to gather data about high-pollution periods.
"Over the next couple of weeks and into February, they will be out there," said Brock LeBaron, deputy director of the Utah Air Quality Division, noting that a high-pressure system and snow cover are key factors in the creation of the basin's unusual pollution problem. "The forecast looks good for high-ozone conditions."
Because the weather didn't cooperate last year the mild winter meant no snow to boost pollution a $5 million data-gathering effort by nearly a dozen government agencies, universities and other organizations failed to solve the winter ozone puzzle. This year, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the state Department of Environmental Quality, Utah State University, the University of Utah, the Western Energy Alliance and other organizations are teaming up once again in hopes of gaining more insight into a pollution problem that's usually confined to summertime in big cities.