Air, water and pollution in St George, Utah (St. George, Cedar City: houses, water heater)

[yogabill]

Greetings,
We are thinking of moving to the St George area and are wondering what folks know about the air and water quality. We currently live in Colorado where there are plans to drill for natural gas fairly close to us and so are concerned about contamination issues from uranium mining in the St George area. Wherever these large corporations begin extracting natural resources, human health issues ends up being second to profits. We are also concerned with the new proposed coal plant in Mesquite and wonder how others feel about its proximity to St George. Thanks for any input to help guide our decision.

Bill S

[Badland wonder]

As far as I know, there is no uranium mining near St. George. There was some historical silver mining nearby (Silver Reef-now a subdivision) and 30 miles west was , or still might be, some gold mining. There is definitely uranium mining in other parts of the state. Haven't heard anyone complain about their water. Cedar City, 40 miles north, has a lot of iron in the water and iron mines. The St. George area can experience some temperature inversions which give it some pollution, but it is still a pretty small city, or one might call it a large town. I think Mesquite has some pretty serious water issues to settle before any coal mining could start there.

[Rockhopper]

Originally Posted by yogabill

Greetings,
We are thinking of moving to the St George area and are wondering what folks know about the air and water quality. We currently live in Colorado where there are plans to drill for natural gas fairly close to us and so are concerned about contamination issues from uranium mining in the St George area. Wherever these large corporations begin extracting natural resources, human health issues ends up being second to profits. We are also concerned with the new proposed coal plant in Mesquite and wonder how others feel about its proximity to St George. Thanks for any input to help guide our decision.

Bill S

Greetings Bill,

First off this news about a coal plant in Mesquite is new to me. I'd hate to see our nice clean air here in St. George start to fill with coal dust. I lived in the mining communities of deep western Virginia and West Virginia for a time and I've seen what coal towns are like.

Don't let that deter you from at least coming here for a vacation to check it out and see how beautiful this place really is. Nowhere else on Earth will you find places like Zion Nat'l Park, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell and a zillion other natural wonders within a 200 mile radius. This place is lovely and a lot of fun if you're into the outdoors or recreation. Hope this helps.

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by Rockhopper

Greetings Bill,

First off this news about a coal plant in Mesquite is new to me. I'd hate to see our nice clean air here in St. George start to fill with coal dust. I lived in the mining communities of deep western Virginia and West Virginia for a time and I've seen what coal towns are like.

There is coal mining and three major coal fired plants around the Price area, and it's all pretty invisible. Air quality, with the exception of desert dust kicked up by the wind, is excellent. Coal mining in the western states isn't like coal mining in appalachian states, and modern coal fired plants are very clean.

[Snickery]

Lived in St George 3 years, moved from Minneapolis. The air is horrid, dirty , dust storms, pollution etc... Not to mention the Nuke fallout from the 50's and 60's , coined : downwinders. Yes, they have a coal plant which is to built on the boarder of Utah and Nevada , roughly 30 miles from St George.. on the otherside of Mesquite. I have family living there and am pleading with them to move here to Denver(elderly parents). There are no safe limits of air quality from a coal fired plant!

[debbee]

Don't know about actual pollutants in the water but the quality of the water is horrible! We replaced 2 new hot water heaters within a year in two different homes due to corrosive damage from the hard water. If you do move here make sure you invest in a good water softener.

[Rockhopper]

Originally Posted by Snickery

The air is horrid, dirty , dust storms, pollution etc... Not to mention the Nuke fallout from the 50's and 60's , coined : downwinders.

Uhhhh... you are aware this is 2008? The air here is far from horrid even on the worst days. Dust storms are part of living in the desert and a very infrequent and wherever did you come up with the "pollution" idea? Nuke fallout was limited to people that lived in the Cedar City area and north and that stopped some 40 years ago.

Are you misguided or just incredibly ignorant?

[CedarCityUtahRez]

Originally Posted by Rockhopper

Uhhhh... you are aware this is 2008? The air here is far from horrid even on the worst days. Dust storms are part of living in the desert and a very infrequent and wherever did you come up with the "pollution" idea? Nuke fallout was limited to people that lived in the Cedar City area and north and that stopped some 40 years ago.

Are you misguided or just incredibly ignorant?

St. George received worse Nuke fallout (being downwinders) than Cedar City, from what I've read. That is why St. George remained much smaller than Cedar City for years. The workers who put in the freeway (my dad is a personal friend of one) said that people were terrified to drink the water from St. George and would buy bottled. Everyone was afraid of Cancer. There was a film crew that filmed in St. George with John Wayne as one of the actors...all later died of cancer and some theorists believe that St. George have those nuke issues was the reason. Go ahead and google it.

That being said, I know a long time resident of Cedar City and she says that everyone knew at least one family with at least one child who had Cancer. She says it was horrible to have so many children die of cancer. She also said that people in these areas didn't have gardens for those reasons....and that's why the milk is still coming from Vegas.

That was another reason that housing stayed so cheap.....people couldn't give their houses away living in a Cancer Cluster.

The Straight Dope: Did John Wayne die of cancer caused by a radioactive movie set?

Radiation Death and Deception

Legacy of radiation illness stir objection to Nevada bomb test | HEAL Utah

portland imc - 2005.10.27 - Downwinders of Nevada Test Site nuclear fallout

John Wayne

[NearlyNative]

Wow, what a story. I'm sure nuclear fallout affected some people in southern Utah, but I don't think I would live my life by what happened in the 50's and 60's. If you know any thing about the Mormon people, having a garden is part of being self-sufficient, so I can't believe people wouldn't have a garden. That is what the deep gutters are for; irrigation water for the garden. Did your neighbor tell you that? Speaking of milk, have you driven around the Washington Fields area? Those large animals standing in manure are cows. They produce milk. The Cox family had a very large dairy around 700 South and 700 East for many years. There aren't many dairies left in St. George any more, but they produced milk for years here. St. George was an agricultural area for many years before developers and golf courses came, including producing milk. This is the first I've heard that all of St. Georges milk comes from Las Vegas.
Housing was cheap because air conditioning wasn't installed in houses until the early 80's. Swamp coolers were used prior to that, but they don't cool much at 110 degrees. You can't give houses away in the desert without AC.
Debbee, I lived in the same house for eleven years without replacing the water heater. The secret is having teenagers that drain the hot water tank every morning, thus cleaning out the sediment daily.
The coal power plant is just in the planning stages for now, so we'll see.

[Aerorick]

Crimany Christmas! The Duke died from a cancer that started from an experiance in St. George? "Cedar", please tell me what John Wayne movie was ever filmed in St. George. St. George wasn't even a speck on the map in the 50's. Or even the 60's. All the Dukes' Utah location movies were filmed at Monument Valley. And that's way over on the Southeast corner of the state. With a healthy buffer of mountains between there and Nevada.
Crimany, while I'll be the first to say that the nuclear testing of the fifty's was responcible for harm than the government wants to admit. I'd say that today with the constant convenent diet of pure fat enriched fast food, processed vegetables and mowing the lawn once a week for exercise much more of an issue for health problems than atomic testing 50 years ago.