UCAIR Home > Partners
Partners
UCAIR is fortunate to work with many different partners. We encourage you to learn more about these great organizations by viewing their Web pages.
Breathe Utah is a group of citizens and professionals with experience and expertise in scientific, medical, legal, and communications aspects of air quality in Utah. Breathe Utah seeks real solutions to Utah's air quality problem, focusing on education outreach, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and policy change. Breathe Utah addresses the root causes of pollution through legal, medical, and environmental research that leads to science-based solutions and effective public policy, advocating for change within existing processes and organizations, creating partnerships and participating in multi-stakeholder collaboration. Breathe Utah emphasizes the need for individuals to assume responsibility as both a cause and a solution to air pollution.
Air quality is an important economic issue as poor air quality hinders corporate relocation efforts, places additional regulatory burdens on business, increases health care costs and places Utah's federal highway funding at risk. With more than half the state's air pollution coming from vehicles, we, as a business community, can make a difference.
Champions are leaders of our community, showing dedication to our state's well being. By joining the Salt Lake Chamber, TravelWise and UCAIR Clean Air Champion supported program, companies will typically benefit from bottom line savings, enhanced employee moral and recognition from business community peers. Participating companies typically benefit from:
- Bottom Line Savings
- Recognition for Community Leadership and Dedication to our State's Well-being
- Enhanced Employee Moral
- Recognition from Business Community Peers
The Clear the Air Challenge was born of a multi-agency stakeholder collaboration whose intent was to engage individuals in behavior change that reduces air pollution. The Challenge began in the summer of 2009 and will take place this year in August.
The Clear the Air Challenge, issued by Governor Herbert, Mayor Becker, Mayor Corroon and other community leaders, is a month long competition starting August 1st that gives you the chance to reduce your vehicle emissions by choosing alternatives to driving alone using TravelWise strategies. By driving less and driving smarter, you will ultimately help improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and conserve energy in Utah.
Successes of the project include:
- 123,713 Total Trips Eliminated
- 1,128,632 Miles Not Traveled
- $654,607 Saved
- 1,934,803 Pounds of Emissions Reduced
Idle Free Utah is a collaboration of State, municipal, and private organizations working to reduce vehicle idling time across the state. Legislators come together each fall to declare September "Idle Free Awareness Month." Elementary schools work to educate parents and bus drivers about the impacts of idling. Join us, not just in September, but year-round, to reduce idling.
Partners work with schools, businesses, and government leaders to educate their students, employees, and residents about the importance not letting vehicles idle. The project also provides an anti-idle campaign toolkit available for download.
- Save Money—By Reducing Fuel Use
- Breathe Easier—By Preventing Unhealthy Exhaust from Building up in and Around Your Car
- Protect the Environment—By Reducing Idling Emissions that Contribute to Smog
The Utah Clean School Bus Project began as a highly collaborative project between local government, community organizations, and schools to improve health and air quality.
This coalition worked together to secure funding to purchase and install emission reducing technologies to retrofit school buses statewide. These include monies from the Clean School Bus USA Project, Diesel Emission Reduction Act, the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) fund, Utah Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Clean Fuel Vehicles Grant and Loan Program, and funds appropriated by House Bill 146 (2008). Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were also used to complete portions of the retrofit project.
Approximately 1,200 school buses were retrofitted to reduce the in-cab pollutants that impact children's health and reduce outdoor pollution as well. These retrofits resulted in reducing 310 tons of particulate matter, 4,694 tons of carbon monoxide, and 854 tons of volatile organic compounds.
TravelWise is a program established by the Utah Department of Transportation to encourage travelers to seek alternatives to driving alone. The TravelWise concept is sometimes referred to as transportation demand management (TDM). TravelWise was established with the idea that people implementing the program strategies will reduce traffic congestion, reduce energy consumption and improve air quality. See the article "TravelWise Makes Travel Cents" for a comprehensive look at this innovative program.
Utah Clean Cities Coalition (UCCC) is one of the nearly 100 Coalitions that are part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Initiative, working to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, develop regional economic opportunities, and improve air quality. As a non-profit organization, UCCC provides tools and resources for voluntary, community based programs to reduce consumption of petroleum-based fuels. Through our stakeholder partnerships, UCCC serves as a resource to promote and create alternative fuels, stations, and vehicles, as well as to promote clean strategies such as Idle Free Utah and the Clear the Air Challenge. UCCC has dual locations in Salt Lake City and St. George which serve the entire state.