Recently I learned something that changed the way I think about the future of our state. Utah already has more than five times as many jobs in the clean energy and energy efficiency sectors than the entire fossil fuel industry.
The transition to a clean energy economy in Utah isn’t some far-off prospect — it has already happened.
This transition hasn't been easy. We still need to ensure that coal miners and other workers whose jobs are disappearing have access to good, family-supporting careers. That means doubling down on clean energy job creation and putting pressure on clean energy companies to make sure they’re providing good jobs at fair wages.
But when I look to our current elected representatives here in Utah, I don’t see that leadership. Instead I see our state and federal elected representatives picking winners and losers in the Utah economy. Rather than promoting the growth of clean energy jobs, Republican leaders are willing to actively hurt our state’s economy if it pleases their fossil fuel industry supporters.
So far this year they have driven the Outdoor Retailer shows out of our state, costing Salt Lake City well over $45 million a year. Outdoor Retailer left because the industry depends on public lands — and our elected representatives are fighting to overturn the Bears Ears National Monument, turn public lands over to local control and carve off huge chunks of protected lands from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for coal mining.
With 10 million annual visitors to our national parks, my hometown of Torrey (where I own and operate a tourism business) receives a good portion of the nearly $200,000 per day that pours into small local economies. One in 10 jobs in our state is in the tourism industry. But apparently our leaders aren’t concerned about those jobs.
Our rooftop solar industry, which employs over 2,600 people in Utah, is also under attack. In other states where utilities and regulators have gone after rooftop solar, like Nevada, the industry has been decimated. Every one of Utah’s 2,600 workers could lose their jobs this year if our Public Utility Commission allows Rocky Mountain Power to impose new fees.
Gov. Gary Herbert could stop this in an instant. But because Herbert isn’t willing to stand up for clean energy workers, the decision is likely to be punted back to the Public Utilities Commission, which has a track record of siding with private utilities over consumers. The real victims in all of this will be thousands of solar workers and their families.
Clean air, along with strong protections for public lands, is essential to Utah’s future as a tourist destination. Business leaders from across the region spoke out last year about the need for clean air during the debate over limiting haze pollution in national parks. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a common-sense rule that would diminish the pollution. More than 45,000 people and 100 businesses spoke out in support of the plan. But Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Sen. Mike Lee are using a questionable legislative maneuver to overturn the rule, after nearly a decade of work to create it. Shouldn’t Congress be focused on passing a health care bill right now, not wasting time on overturning a single state’s popular clean air rule?
Our elected leaders want us to believe that we must sacrifice our environment to create jobs. But Utah Republicans aren't protecting jobs; they're picking and choosing which industries to support and which to drive out of our state. The economic losses from these ideologically driven crusades against clean energy and the environment are dismantling Utah's economy piece by piece.
When will our leaders get serious about creating jobs in an industry that's actually growing — such as clean energy or energy efficiency — instead of sacrificing our outdoor recreation and clean energy industries to the fossil fuel lobby? I’ll believe in their commitment to jobs and a strong Utah economy when I see it in action.
Ty Markham is a retired clinical psychologist, now full-time grandmother and owner-operator of a business in Torrey, Utah.