The Salt Lake Chamber, along with its partners UDOT TravelWise, UCAIR, Intermountain Healthcare, UTA, Penna Powers, Fidelity Investments and Rio Tinto hosted the 7^th Annual Clear the Challenge Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Thursday, August 20^th at noon.

The Clear the Air Challenge is a month-long initiative that encourages Utah residents to drive less and drive smarter during the month of July. Participants help improve air quality by avoiding trips alone in their car, using alternative modes of transportation such as carpooling, taking public transit, walking, biking or trip chaining.

“The Clear the Air Challenge is the state’s largest clean air initiative and it just keeps growing. The amount of new participants, who joined primarily through the involvement of their employers, speaks volumes about the willingness of the citizens in our state and our business community to come together to make our community a better place to live,” said Ryan Evans, vice president of business and community relations at the Salt Lake Chamber. “The numbers from this year’s Challenge show how valuable this program is to our community.”

Since the Challenge started in 2009, participants have saved over 11.7 million miles, eliminated over 900,000 trips, reduced over 4,200 tons of emissions and have saved over $5 million dollars total. Collectively, this year’s 7,656 participants:

• Eliminated 141,557 trips
• Saved 2,464,140 miles
• Reduced 646.2 tons of emissions
• Saved $694,620

The following businesses and teams were recognized for their outstanding participation at the awards ceremony and luncheon:

• 1^st Place Large Team: University of Utah
• 2^nd Place Large Team: Fidelity Investments
• 3^rd Place Large Team: L-3 Communications Systems – West
• 1^st Place Small Team: Enterprise Holdings
• 2^nd Place Small Team: 90.9-FM KRCL
• 3^rd Place Small Team: Salt Lake City Corporation

“This year’s winners aren’t just Clear the Air Challenge champions. They’re also community champions. They, along with other businesses, showed that if our community works together, we really can make a difference,” said Keith McMullin, CEO of Deseret Management Corporation.

The Challenge would like to recognize contributing partners: Salt Lake Comic Con, Greenstar Bikes, Downtown SLC Farmers Market, ProBar, GreenBike SLC, Ogden Made, the Salt Lake Bees, Utah State Parks, the Utah Jazz, Overstock.com, Enterprise CarShare, Kingsbury Hall, Wasatch Brewery, Squatters Craft Beers, Kuru Footwear, Jay Bird, Power Practical, Goal Zero, Fezzari, Kuhl, and Camp Chef.

Additionally, the Challenge recognizes media partners: KSL-News Radio, 90.9-FM KRCL, KUTV-2, X96 KXRK, KSL-TV5, 100.3-FM, ABC4-Utah, and 103.5-FM The Arrow.