In partnership with the Utah State Legislature, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR), and the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah), the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is holding Free Fare for Clean Air days on Thursday and Friday, September 1 and 2, 2022.
“This bill should mark the start of a new opportunity to finally prioritize our health and our environment as a nation.”
Salt Lake City, UT – Today the Utah Division of Air Quality and the Air Quality Board heard from clean air advocates calling for strengthened
Connect with our communications team to interview our policy experts and learn about our work. meisei@healutah.org.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” says Meisei Gonzalez, Communications Director with HEAL Utah, a 501c3 committed to protecting public health and the environment by promoting renewable energy and clean air initiatives. “The IRA utilizes the incentive approach—the carrot not the stick—which we’ve seen achieve better results in Utah. The bottom line is it will help us transition to newer technologies for production and generation of clean energy and away from fossil fuels. It has the potential for wide-ranging positive effects locally and beyond.”
“If the participants don’t take that off-ramp, then they are locked in and no matter what happens to the cost of construction after that, you know, then they’re in it, like Vogtle and Summer in the Southeast,” Williams said, referring to the development of two new nuclear reactors that each went billions over budget. The Summer project in South Carolina was ultimately canceled.
Rarely do voters hold the key to important climate change or health policy in their own hands. This is your chance. We encourage Salt Lake City voters to support the parks and public lands bond on your ballot, for your health and ours, by voting yes.
Numerous commenters, including HEAL Utah’s Alex Veilleux, brought up that the permit directly violates Gilbert Bay’s protected status under Utah’s Administrative Code.
“It directly violates what the Division of Water Quality is talking about doing and what they’re tasked to do. But most importantly, my perspective is that it’s just so frustrating to see all the work that everyone is doing right now…all being directly negated,” Veilleux said.
