On the list of “important things our legislature really should cover,” our metro area’s air quality should be at the top of the list. Year after year the inversion gets worse and worse, and yet our lawmakers seem to completely ignore it. This is somewhat ironic as the inversion always seems to set in at [...]
Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Making friends Left and Right – An open letter to Peaceful Uprising and DeChristopher Supporters
I wanted to take a break from my media decisions series for a brief interlude to the events surrounding the Tim DeChristopher sentencing on Tuesday as I have now had an opportunity to gather my thoughts. I suspect that there will be a higher than average amount of discussion in the comments section – so [...]
Protesting Gone Awry
Earlier today, eight or nine (reports vary) individuals continually interrupted the peoples business in House of Representatives as debate closed on the Democratic federal budget plans by singing, one by one, an altered version of the Star Spangled Banner (transcript). Currently, The City Weekly is reporting that one of these individuals was Deb Henry, local [...]
Why Tim DeChristopher will be Found Guilty, and why he Should.
Let us begin at the most logical spot – the beginning. For those of you, perhaps outside the state, who are unaware of the Tim DeChristopher case here is a brief recap – in December of 2008 DeChristopher, a college senior at the University of Utah, entered a Bureau of Land Management land auction for [...]
Bills to Watch: HB 399 – Environmental Litigation Bond, M. Noel
Two years ago, Representative Mike Noel (R – Kanab, District 73) proposed HB 379, that copies word for word this years HB 399 – Environmental Litigation Bond sans an amendment that was made on the floor of the House that actually made the original bill even more harmful to those who wish to challenge any environmental finding. [...]
Bills to Watch: HB 246 – Repeal of Phosphorus Limit in Dishwashing Detergent, S. Sandstrom
A few years ago, former Representative Christine Johnson passed a bill designed to improve our water quality by making it illegal to sell household dish-washing detergent that contained more than .5 percent phosphorus in its content. Why? Because excess phosphorus can fundamentally damage water ecosystems by encouraging the rapid growth of algae. This algal bloom, [...]
Bills to Watch: HB 96 – Mandatory Emission Inspections and Maintenance Programs, J. Biskupski
Although you wouldn’t think it, Utah is actually is actually one of the more densely populated states in the nation with 2.3 of its 2.7 million residents stretching along a corridor 120 long and 40 miles wide equating to roughly 500 people per square mile. This is due, in large part, to the geography of the state [...]
Bills to Watch: HB 58 – Emission Testing Modifications, D. Butterfield
This weekend, MRW and I decided to get out of Dodge and head down to Southern Utah. One of the first things I noticed was just how bad the air was in Salt Lake and Utah Counties. As we rounded the bend near Nephi, we finally saw the mysterious yellow orb known as the sun. [...]
Bills to Watch: HB 25 – Mineral and Petroleum Literacy, J. Draxler
Did you know that Utah is ranked 13th in the country for crude oil production and 9th in natural gas production? Well, I didn’t, but I don’t find it surprising either. There is no doubt that much of our economic success can be traced back to our natural resources. But, as we also know, the extraction of these [...]
Earth Day and the Modern Reality
Today marks the 40th Earth Day celebration and, rather than go on and on about how we are killing the Earth, I would just like to provide a little food for thought. Just about everyone acknowledges that climate change is a reality – some (smart) people say the primary cause of this is due to [...]