The Bear River, which generally feeds the Nice Salt Lake, ends earlier than reaching the Nice Salt Lake because the lake experiences file low water ranges on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information
Utah is charting the course for sound power management in the US. As an energy-rich state with reserves of pure gasoline and coal — together with renewable sources like photo voltaic, wind and geothermal — Utah produces extra power than it consumes.
By way of this abundance, Utah helps handle the power wants of the US. Simply as Utah continues to reveal, America should take an all-of-the-above method to power manufacturing and prioritize our home power sources. As each the demand and value of power proceed to develop, it's crucial that the reliability of our nation’s power provide be a prime nationwide precedence, not only a Republican or Democratic one.
Congressman John Curtis acknowledges how successfully addressing local weather change is a chance for Utah, and he's a number one conservative voice at house and overseas in advocating for commonsense options to scale back world emissions whereas decreasing power prices for Utah households and lowering America’s reliance on nations like China and Russia. His institution of the U.S. Home Conservative Local weather Caucus boasts greater than 70 Republican members of Congress who're dedicated to supporting revolutionary applied sciences that foster inexpensive power and scale back emissions. Congressman Curtis was additionally appointed by the Home Republican Chief to the management process power on Vitality, Local weather and Conservation.
Final yr, Curtis joined the first-ever Republican delegation on the 2021 United Nations Local weather Change Convention (COP26). And the Utah congressman isn’t alone — in line with a ballot by Residents for Accountable Vitality Options, 74% of voters favor elevated help for clear power improvement in addition to significant, all-the-above local weather options.
This week, Curtis hosted the first-ever Utah Conservative Local weather Summit on the College of Utah, which incorporates a various lineup of audio system highlighting a right-of-center method to power innovation and Utah’s contributions to power safety. He can even tour the Rio Tinto copper mine — a mineral that's vital to scrub power applied sciences and infrastructure.
State leaders additionally acknowledge the significance of U.S. innovation and clear power improvement. In recognition of the sixth annual Nationwide Clear Vitality Week, Gov. Spencer Cox issued a proclamation celebrating Clear Vitality Week within the state of Utah. The proclamation acknowledges that “Utah is dedicated to advancing inexpensive, dependable, and sustainable power via an ‘any-of-the-above’ market-based method to growing Utah’s high-quality renewable photo voltaic, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass and power storage sources.”
Moreover, “Utah’s fossil-based power sources generate inexpensive and dependable power for Utah’s total nation-leading financial system and supply a spine for integrating new power sources leading to a extra various and clear power system.”
As one instance, the U.S. Division of Vitality only in the near past designated Utah’s Frontier Observatory for Analysis in Geothermal Vitality as a web site for analysis and improvement in enhanced or artifical geothermal techniques and reservoirs. An Enhanced Geothermal System will create alternatives to extend power manufacturing throughout the nation by eradicating the locational boundaries of standard reservoirs.
Utahns help all-the-above insurance policies that scale back emissions, incentivize clear power improvement, eradicating regulatory obstacles to speed up deployment of fresh power and infrastructure, and maintain overseas international locations, together with China, accountable. That’s why in 2020 a first-of-its-kind, nonpartisan Local weather and Clear Air Compact was signed to direct broad help and productive conversations and motion on local weather options. And whereas the legislature continues to work via the challenges of coming collectively on efficient laws, this method reveals a willingness on either side to interact in significant dialog about a problem on which we are able to all discover widespread floor.
Ensuring America’s power and local weather insurance policies help our staff, our financial system and our surroundings is our greatest hope for lowering world emissions. Sustaining and increasing entry to various power sources should be a strategic and nationwide safety precedence.
We must always proceed advancing innovation, clear power applied sciences, infrastructure that delivers power that's inexpensive, dependable, resilient and can assist scale back world emissions. Utah is exhibiting the remainder of the nation — and the world — how it may be completed.
Heather Reams is the president of Residents for Accountable Vitality Options.