During the 2018 General Session the Utah Legislature passed good and bad environmental bills, and one very, very ugly bill.
Good:
• HB 27 Environmental assurance for underground storage tanks
• HB 38 Fireworks restrictions for better air quality
• HB 101 Emissions testing for diesel powered vehicles
• HB 216 Money for the Jordan River trail
• HB 261 Rocky Mountain Power can go solar
• HB 302 Licensing to grow industrial hemp
• HB 331 Air quality as a part of driver education
• HB 369 You can buy a Tesla electric car in Utah now!
• HCR 7 Advocates environmental stewardship and sound science to address climate change
• SB 141 Renewable energy tax credits through 2020
• SB 157 Solar industry accountability
• SCR 2 Encourages shielded outdoor lighting to preserve dark skies
Bad:
• HB 169 A $1.72 million tax break for Energy Solutions radioactive waste company
• HB 249 Adopts a statewide resource management plan that promotes the transfer of public lands agenda, prioritizes extractive industry, and is anti-wilderness
• HB 272 Privatization of state land to build artificial islands in Utah Lake (I am not making this up)
• HB 372 Plans to sell the 700-acre former prison site at Point of the Mountain
• HJR 1 Asks the U.S. Congress to exempt Utah from the Antiquities Act that gives presidents the power to create (but not dismantle) National Monuments.
• HJR 2 Asks the federal government to move the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Utah
• SB 71 Toll roads to target public lands recreation
• SB 135 New fees on electric and hybrid vehicles. Also “rebrands” the Utah Transit Authority for no good reason
• SCR 8 Supports replacing Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with a much, much smaller national park in order to block lawsuits to restore original boundaries
Ugly:
• SB 234 a land grab to develop the Northwest Quadrant of Salt Lake City
Read the full text of bills that passed at le.utah.gov. And find more about these bills from Ashley Miller and Jessica Reimer in this issue.