Concerned citizens are calling for better information about the human health impacts of building a massive, industrialized inland port on 16,000 acres on Salt Lake City’s Northwest side.
A coalition of groups under the umbrella name Stop the Polluting Port is worried about air quality impacts from increased traffic and industrial activity as well as impacts to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
In 2018, when the Utah Legislature passed a bill to form an Inland Port Authority, there were no provisions to consider health or environmental impacts.
In 2019, State Senator Luz Escamilla was able to pass a second bill that requires the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to establish an environmental baseline in order to monitor the impacts of the port development.
However, there is still no plan for any Health Impact Assessment before the project before it is built.