Climate Utah 2/01 update
- Tom Moyer
- Feb 9
- 3 min read
Two weeks in! We've got a pretty good idea now of what legislation we'll see, and some bills are starting to move through the process. Everything is up to date on our legislative tracker, and you can also sign up for notifications on the bills you're most interested in on the Utah legislature's web page.
The next two weeks are the best times to meet with your legislators. The crunch of the first few weeks is done, and the budget whirlwind hasn't started yet. Several of us met with Rep. Auxier this week, and others met with Rep. Okerlund. You can look up your district and contact information for your legislators here. If you don't get an answer, keep pestering (nicely)! You can also just show up in-person during floor time and ask for them. If your representative sponsored a bill that you support, please write and thank them!
Stewardship Utah Survey
Stewardship Utah would like feedback from us on their air quality bills. If you can take a few minutes and let them know which of these bills are your top priorities and why - that would be very helpful. The survey has descriptions of the bills, and they are all on our bill tracker as well. Thanks!
Great Salt Lake News
Big news! The state of Utah will purchase the bankruptcy assets of US Magnesium, including the water rights to 144,000 acre-feet annually, for the benefit of the Great Salt Lake. That's roughly the size of Deer Creek Reservoir. This is a win for both air quality and water conservation. Recall that we need to conserve around a million acre-feet a year, out of our current consumptive usage of about 2.5 million acre-feet a year. US Magnesium had been using about 60,000 acre-feet a year with the rest of their rights unused. That water will now remain in the lake, and the rest of their water right will not be sold for a different consumptive use. Please thank your legislators for this!
This is looking like a good year for Great Salt Lake legislation. There hasn't been much since 2022 when the lake was in crisis. Two good water years in a row took the pressure off, and the poor water year so far this year has brought it back. House and Senate leadership are both making it a priority, and the governor has reiterated his commitment to filling the lake by the 2034 Olympics. Grow the Flow has a nice rundown of priority lake legislation, and these are all on our bill tracker as well.
Clean Energy Legislation
We're still waiting for legislative language on a lot of these. Rep. Ward has a good bill to streamline municipal permitting for rooftop solar by allowing online permitting and third-party inspection. Rep. Stoddard has a bill to fund the electrification of the FrontRunner trains. And Rep. Okerlund has one to explore an "on-bill repayment" program to provide upfront funding for lower income households to be able to take advantage of efficiency upgrades though the Wattsmart and Thermwise programs.
There are also a couple of bills to watch and possibly oppose, which create new roadblocks to clean energy deployment. Several bills along these lines were proposed last year and were either defeated or amended to greatly reduce their impact.
Interns
We have six legislative interns this year from the University of Utah and BYU! We started this program last year at the request of a University of Utah student, and formalized it through the university this year. Our students have been getting briefings on the legislative process and bills of interest, and they lobbied legislators for the first time this week in partnership with Grow the Flow. They are helping to compile feedback from those lobby meetings, and getting ready to testify in committee on bills that they will choose.
Bill Trackers
Our bill tracker will focus on the highest priority legislation on climate change, clean energy, air quality, and the Great Salt Lake. You can also see bill trackers on a wider range of environmental topics from:
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