Your input is needed! Once a decade, Utah’s energy officials update the state's energy plan. They are seeking your input until January 21, 2022, tomorrow! This plan will direct energy development in our state for the next ten years. Will it establish a Utah that works toward a socially and environmentally responsible future? Or will it continue our legacy of energy sacrifice zones and dependence on the boom and bust cycle of fossil fuel development? You can help decide.
January 21, 2022, is the last day to submit your comments. Please join us and share your vision for a cleaner, more humane energy future for Utahns.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The existing State Energy Plan was originally published in 2011. It does not consider the connection between energy development and climate change and does not include any analysis of the environmental or public health impacts of our state energy policy.
Meanwhile, in Utah, as many as 8,000 deaths annually are attributable to air pollution with a lofty $3.3 billion price tag. At the same time, local air pollution disproportionately damages the health and well-being of low-income communities and the Black, Brown, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and other communities of color in the state.
Utah’s energy plan should help improve the regulatory landscape, prioritize and encourage renewable energy development, and take actions that minimize the threats to the state’s air quality and public health.
The current plan lacks the breadth and substance to qualify as a true "energy plan". At best, it's little more than a "fossil energy production plan,” and a testament to the state’s favoritism for the fossil fuel industry. By not planning to transition communities and diversify extractive economies, the plan leaves energy workers and their families at risk and places renewable energy development on the back burner, failing to support actions needed to advance clean energy development and access across the state.
State leaders have a moral responsibility to protect the health and well-being of our communities by focusing on clean, renewable sources of energy and phasing out fossil fuels while protecting workers and families. The state energy plan is a key tool to ensure a responsible, intentional, and just transition for Utah.
How has Utah’s boom and bust cycle of fossil fuel dependence impacted your community? What is your vision for a cleaner, more humane, and sustainable energy future for Utah? Submit your comments to protect the integrity of our climate and public health today.
PROJECTED TIMELINE
WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Submit Your Comments By 1/21/22
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Take action to support a cleaner, more humane, and sustainable energy future for Utah
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Share this action alert with friends and family, and talk to them about why this matters to you
Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE)
Contact Your Legislator
- Find your legislator: le.utah.gov
- Tell your legislator that the state has a moral responsibility to protect the health of our communities by prioritizing a transition away from fossil fuels in the State Energy Plan
- Check out our local messaging guidance and arguments here. I encourage you to use these arguments, and also bring your own vision and personal stories to the conversation.