MURRAY — The mayor of this east-side city of about 46,000 calls himself a closet environmentalist.
Dan Snarr has quietly pushed for renewable energy sources for Murray's municipal power corporation during his 11-year tenure and plans to look for additional environmentally friendly sources of power in the future, he said.
His reasons are two-fold: First, Snarr is concerned about pollution and global climate change, he said.
"Everybody who has an opportunity to be a better environmental steward should step up and do what they can in their own little way," said Snarr, who has headed Murray for the past 11 years. "If everybody stepped up and tried to do just a little bit we would have a better environment to live in."
Second, Snarr believes that soon, municipalities will be required to use renewable energy sources by either state or federal mandate. The mayor believes getting ahead of the curve and investing in renewable resources now will save his residents money in the future.
"We've stepped up and tried to go green more than any other municipal power department in the state of Utah," Snarr said.
Cities will one day be scrambling to get their hands on existing renewable energy sources, predicts the mayor, a one-time Utah Power employee. When the mandates are in place, Murray will be set.
Based on the "supply and demand" principle, Snarr has called Murray's $550,000 investment in a landfill methane electricity generation facility near Bingham Copper Mine a wise investment. Murray's money will go for interconnection lines, and the city will buy some of the power created by the plant, Snarr said.
"Even if it costs a little bit more, over the long haul it will be a good price," he said.
Murray is already getting power from a landfill methane power plant at the Salt Lake County landfill. If the methane were not burned in order to create electricity, the methane would simply be flared or would rise into the environment, said Murray Power general manager Blaine Haacke.
"I think Murray has kind of set the standard," Haacke said. "We're proactive on this."
The mayor has had the support of a "green" City Council and has relied on the progressive thinking of officials in the power corporation to get ahead of the curve, he said during a recent State of the City speech.
By November, 36 percent of Murray's power will come from renewable resources, Snarr bragged. By then the city will be getting about 10 percent of its power from methane.
The other 30 to 40 percent will come from hydropower facilities in Big Cottonwood Canyon and the Colorado River Basin, Haacke said.
Besides helping the environment and driving down long-term costs of electricity from renewable energy for residents, Murray is getting money from corporations by selling them so-called "Green Tags."
The city owns the renewable energy certificates because of its investment in renewable energy, Snarr explained. Companies can buy the tags at $3 a pop to show that they want to support environmental energy policies.
"Whatever we can do to make our world a better place, let us step up and do it," Snarr said.
E-mail: RPalmer@desnews.com