Perhaps I should be humbled an institution with the EPA’s size and power still has time to micromanage our local air. The federal entity has taken on a certain likeness to deity in recent years, most recently declaring they can regulate carbon dioxide levels sans Congress. This past fall, the EPA descended from on high to inform residents of the Tooele Valley that we’re on their hit list as an area that doesn’t meet federal standards for fine-particle matter pollution. We’ve got three years to clean up our emissions — or else.

Well, the EPA isn’t deity yet. As it turns out, Tooele Valley’s air is well within federal limits. With a broad stroke of typical bureaucratic recklessness, the feds have simply lumped our air in with emissions from Salt Lake. Thankfully the EPA’s non-attainment designation is being challenged. Kudos to state and local representatives for petitioning against this nonsense.

The situation raises questions, not the least of which is why our air quality has been counted with Salt Lake’s in the face of data indicating we have much better air quality. But there are deeper implications. For starters, might not local residents have a better grasp on their air quality than national bureaucrats? Is it possible the EPA has their federal fingers in too many pies to ensure fair and effective regulation? Finally, might the current circumstances indicate the EPA has stretched well beyond appropriate federal boundaries?

I say yes on all accounts. The feds are always welcome to drop in and sniff our air, but they have no business regulating it. Furthermore, if the EPA’s assessment had been correct, they would have no business regulating our air anyway. Why? Don’t I value our air quality? To the contrary, I care far more than anyone in Washington because I’m the one breathing it.

Everybody wants clean, healthy air, and regulations clearly need to be in place. But there is no place for federal regulating of air quality, because situations and solutions are unique to their localities. Utah Valley has to deal with geographically-caused inversions. Salt Lake County has massive vehicle emissions to account for. And Tooele Valley, well our sin appears to be living too close to Salt Lake. In all cases, meeting the tightening standards of this heedless, lumbering bureaucracy means cuts to local economies and more spending of taxpayer dollars.

There is a viable alternative to the feds’ clumsy cookie-cutter regulating: the state. The United States is formed of several distinct governing bodies like Utah. Not only does this system form a bulwark against over-centralized power, it allows for a diverse, dynamic governing body to meet the varied needs of the Republic.

I’m no political genius, but the founding fathers may have been on to something. Let Utah regulate its own emissions and base policy on informed representation from local communities. That way, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality can spend more time fighting air pollution instead of petitioning against harmful edicts from the misinformed in Washington.

Municipal bodies generally have a more vested interest in their communities than top-down government workers who’ve never seen postcards of the towns they’re regulating. Air quality is no exception. The EPA should get their tentacles out of Tooele Valley and focus on things closer to home. How’s the air quality in D.C. this time of year?

Matt Rowley is a teacher at Copper Canyon Elementary who lives in Tooele.