SALT LAKE CITY — Looking to the future of transportation, Utah lawmakers invested $5 million in one-time money to boost the electric vehicle charging network and also passed a measure that allows Rocky Mountain Power to spend $50 million on the effort.
In addition, with a nod to Utah’s growing population, the state Legislature decided to spend $1.6 million to expand and increase service on the FrontRunner.
“This is consistent with what is coming next,” said Josh Craft, government relations manager with Utah Clean Energy.
Craft added that it was a positive step for lawmakers to acknowledge range anxiety in the electric vehicle market and to invest in the expansion of FrontRunner to encourage more people to get out of their vehicles — the major contributor of fine-particulate air pollution on the Wasatch Front.
“It is good and nimble that the Legislature allowed something to happen on electric vehicle infrastructure,” Craft said.
But not all are completely happy with the session’s outcome.
Rep. Steve Handy, a co-chairman of the state Legislature’s Clean Air Caucus, said he believes there may be an emerging trend at the state Capitol where air quality continues to be a less pressing concern.
“I have a fear that we will be lulled into complacency,” Handy said. “There is a notion that since our nonattainment areas are now in attainment that we do not need to do as much as we have done in the past, and I think that is very short-sighted.”
The state Legislature also took the long-awaited step of fostering the potential development of a voluntary pilot program that will assess the energy efficiency of existing homes on the market with homeowners looking to sell, or would-be buyers curious about a residence’s performance.
“We are really pleased and excited that in a tough fiscal year,” the measure by Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek passed, Craft said.
While vehicles have a miles per gallon sticker and appliances have energy efficiency ratings, there is not an equivalent out there for homes on the market.
“This is not taking away or requiring anything. It seeks to create a clear understanding and a way to evaluate energy efficiency in a home.”
The measure directs the Governor’s Office of Energy Development to explore the criteria for judging a home’s energy efficiency performance and develop a rule that would foster a potential pilot program.
Initially funded at $425,000, HB235 received $50,000 to get a jumpstart.
“It was not as robust of a pilot program as originally envisioned, but many kudos to Rep. Arent for pulling this together and getting it across the finish line,” Craft said.
The Utah Division of Air Quality predicts that as vehicles become cleaner burning and the state’s population continues to grow, homes and businesses will become the No. 1 source of air pollution in the state.
Handy said the nearly $9.8 million investment in air quality bills and funding was a decent investment given the budget uncertainty.
“I feel pretty good about it but I think we should have done more,” the Layton Republican said.
On a positive front, Handy said, last-minute haggling on the final night of the session produced a compromise to extend tax credits to a pair of refineries that have not yet transitioned to producing Tier 3 fuel — which can reduce a vehicle’s emissions by as much as 80% in newer models.
Initially, the extension would have been granted for three years, but that was shaved to 18 months.
“We met them half way,” Handy said.
One of those refinery companies, Big West, is connected to the Maverik convenience store chain.
“There is a Maverik on every corner,” Handy said. “We needed to make this happen.”
Lawmakers did approve spending $200,000 to augment research on the Uinta Basin ozone problem and $2 million to help support development of carbon capture projects in Utah.
Handy, however, said he was disappointed that his measure, HB317, was quickly shot down by his colleagues in the House.
The bill would have called for $50,000 to study the pollution contribution of nonroad heavy-duty vehicles that currently are not regulated by the Utah Division of Air Quality.
“I had that slammed back in my face,” he said. “There was this belief that what we know now about pollution is enough.”
It didn’t help this session, he added, that there were not any of the nasty winter inversions that are a catalyst for advocates and the public to pressure lawmakers to take action to fight air pollution.
“Guess what? We didn’t have any of those severe inversions, which is a good thing,” but that public pressure was not galvanized, he said.
He pointed to the irony of lawmakers approving $200,000 in 2018 for the Kem C. Gardner Institute at the University of Utah to develop the Utah Road Map, which offers recommendations for steps Utah can take to address its air pollution problem.
Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, ran a resolution, HCR11, emphasizing the state’s commitment to the document’s guiding principles. It never had a hearing.
“That did not really catch fire,” Handy said. “The state ought to be setting the example ... I have a fear we will take our eye off the ball and forget that we have this growing population. It requires a lot of constant effort and changing our habits.”