BINGHAM CANYON MINE, Utah – Aaron Clement drives one of the huge trucks at the largest open-pit copper mine in the world.

“It’s like moving a house,” he jokes.

Clement, who works at Rio Tinto Kennecott’s truck shop at the Bingham Canyon Mine, took part in a pilot project involving a new type of fuel for the massive mining equipment. They switched from a traditional fossil fuel to a ‘renewable diesel’ consisting of soybeans and food waste. The company has even built a special pipeline for it at the mine.

“As far as performance? It’s pretty much identical,” Clement told FOX 13 News about the difference between fuels. “I don’t really notice it. Maybe smoke a little less. Other than that, nothing really changes.”

On Tuesday, Rio Tinto Kennecott announced it has converted its entire fleet of mining vehicles to renewable diesel, which it believes will help reduce emissions in Utah’s airshed.

“If you compare that to passenger cars, that’s well over 100,000 cars we’ve taken off the road,” said Nate Foster, general manager of Rio Tinto Kennecott. “About 40%.”

A massive operation like the Bingham Canyon Mine, which supplies about 12% of America’s copper (a mineral increasingly in demand in our electrified world), could have positive benefits for the Wasatch Front’s air quality. The company previously closed a coal-fired power plant in favor of a solar park that it wants to expand.

“As we enter the time of year where we have air quality issues as the inversion moves in, this will certainly be helpful,” Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters Tuesday at the announcement.

Northern Utah has continually struggled with air quality. The topography of the Wasatch Front contributes to an inversion that holds back pollution in the Ogden, Salt Lake and Utah valleys. But state leaders insist air quality has improved in recent years as Utahns use cleaner fossil fuels or switch to electric vehicles.

“Even though we are growing as a state, it is not just our per capita emissions, but our total net emissions have dropped significantly,” said Governor Cox. “We still have a long way to go and we will continue to work on that, but we are proud of what we have achieved.”

Rio Tinto Kennecott’s voluntary decision to switch to renewable energy sources has received some praise from environmentalists.

“It’s not my job to congratulate Rio Tinto Kenecott much. That will be an improvement for local air quality,” said Dr. Brian Moench, executive director of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.

Dr. However, Moench said he was concerned about the source of the ingredients for the renewable diesel and whether using agricultural land to produce fuel would have negative impacts on the global climate.

Rio Tinto Kennecott said it is also experimenting with electrified vehicles. Given the sheer size of the equipment used at the Bingham Canyon mine, significant battery capacity and power would be required for operations.

“It just comes down to where technology is in the industry today,” says Foster. “We do this in our underground mine with smaller equipment.”