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Utah News
- 07/10/08 - Utah is Going to a 4-Day Workweek to Save Energy
- 07/02/08 - Oil and Gas Drilling on Public Lands Reaches New High
- 07/02/08 - Not This Water
- 07/02/08 - Battle Brewing Over Provo River Sewage Discharge
- 07/02/08 - Mining Temporarily Halted Near Grand Canyon
- 06/30/08 - States Taking Initiative on Environmental & Climate Crisis while Feds Do Little or Nothing
- 06/20/08 - Big Bad Boom: Radioactive Deja Vu in the Ever More Water Deficient American West
- 06/17/08 - Mine Operators Appeal Citations, Thwarting MSHA Safety Efforts
- 06/11/08 - Move Over MoveOn: Grassroots Netroots Alliance (GNA) Launches New Progressive Campaign to 'Press the Politicians'
- 05/27/08 - Matheson Says 'No' to nuclear waste, but Hatch, Bennett, Bishop and Cannon hedge on issue
- 05/15/08 - Center for American Progress: What Are You Paying for the War?
- 05/09/08 - A Call for Criminal Inquiry on Mine Collapse
- 05/08/08 - Federal Lab Officials Admit to Utah Physicist, Dr. Steven Jones, That They Can't Explain the Total Collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11
- 05/05/08 - Republicans Senators Push for Oil Shale Development
- 04/29/08 - Utahns Get Right With Polycarbonate Plastic.
- 04/26/08 - Artificial Turf: Lead Threat Sets Off Alarms
- 04/25/08 - Mixed Reaction to Sugar House Wal-Mart
- 04/22/08 - Salt Lake City Councilmen to Hold Meeting about Wal-Mart
- 04/21/08 - The Leasing Protest Game
- 04/15/08 - Global Warming Has a New Battleground: Coal Plants
- 04/05/08 - Seeking the Water Jackpot
- 04/04/08 - Monsanto's Patchwork Plan to Deny Consumer Choice
- 04/01/08 - Tainted Groundwater is Studied for Cleanup at 3 Superfund Sites
- 03/31/08 - Kennecott Vows a Probe
- 03/27/08 - Immigration Policy in the States- Mid-session Developments
- 03/25/08 - Special Report: How Kennecott Concealed Warnings of a Possible Disaster From The People of Magna
- 03/25/08 - So THIS Is What It Takes to Win?
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Support Renewable and Clean Energy For Utah
As the risks of our dependency on oil become clearer through global warming and high gas prices, it is time to demand that our elected officials work to support development on clean and renewable sources of energy
In Utah, Salt Lake City, Park City, and Moab have adopted sustainable energy resolutions. It is time for state representatives to pass similar resolutions at the state level. Please send them a letter asking them to support clean energy in Utah
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Utah Clean Energy Policies
Updated 7/15/08
Utah 2008 Legislative Roundup
(From Progressive States Network)
While the session started with larger ambitions, a diminished budget surplus and political deadlock led to less dramatic results -- a good thing in the case of a proposed $100 million tax cut which was shelved.
Regarding the environment, the session was a mixed bag:
- On transit, the state spent $2.6 billion to rebuild I-15 in Utah County, while sticking local taxpayers, rather than the airport itself, with much of the cost for funding a light rail line to Salt Lake City International Airport.
- The legislature approved Clean Air and Efficient Vehicle Tax Incentives, a $750 tax credit for vehicles meeting higher air quality and fuel efficiency standards. Unfortunately, compressed natural gas vehicles were excluded.
- A Net Metering Program will allow customers to sell back excess electricity generated, such as from a customer's rooftop solar panels.
Public Education: With voters rejecting the plan by legislators last year to privatize public education through a voucher system, the legislature got the message to improve the public school themselves. Education speading increased $239 million, with teachers given a $1,700 raise and per-pupil funding going up 2.5% along with more equity in how school building funds are distributed throughout the state.
Immigration: Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. signed anti-immigrant bill SB 81 into law. The bill was amended from its original version in early March, notably removing the provisions that would have ended access to in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants who reside in the state. What remained in the bill included allowing local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws, forbidding localities from engaging in "sanctuary" policies, and requiring public employers and their contractors to verify the legal status of workers. However, implementation of all provisions are delayed until 2009 in the hope, according to the Governor, that the federal government will resolve the issue first. The legislature also approved HB 262, which requires the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to study the actual costs of undocumented immigration to the state.
On health care, broader plans to expand coverage were replaced by a task force, HB 133, to study the problem. However, $18 million in tax breaks for buying health care were approved, along with a program to educate low-income residents about existing health care options they are eligible for that are underused.
Other significant laws approved included:
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- SB 16 - expanded right of prisoners to use DNA to seek a new trial.
- HJR 1 - a resolution declaring that federal trade agreements should not undermine state lawmaking authority, give investors additional rights to ignore state and federal laws, undermine state use of procurement policies, or undermine state regulatory powers over domestic industries.
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Take Action. Support Green Jobs!
The Green Jobs Act of 2007 authorized $125 million per year to create an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program as an amendment to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The Green Jobs Act (GJA) is an initial pilot program to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and train workers for jobs in a range of industries - including energy efficient building, construction and retrofits, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, biofuels, and manufacturing that produces sustainable products and uses sustainable processes and materials. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but has a special focus on creating "green pathways out of poverty."
Congress has not yet appropriated money for the Green Jobs Act. Please contact your Senator today and urge them to fund the Green Jobs Act of 2007!
Read more at Green for All's web site.
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