Salt Lake City’s new natural gas-powered garbage trucks were unveiled today as part of an ongoing effort program to “green” the city’s fleet of service vehicles. As KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, the new trucks will replace the city’s diesel-powered sanitation trucks, which the city says will be a cheaper, quieter, and cleaner alternative.
Starting this fall, Utahns will see a 4.7 percent increase in their power bills. The state’s Public Service Commission is allowing Rocky Mountain Power to raise its rates by $117 million, meaning an increase of about $3.50 a month for residential customers.
At more than 10,500, a new report from the Brookings Institution and Battelle says the Salt Lake City region ranks 50th out of 100 metropolitan areas for the number of clean jobs. But the sectors mentioned in the study, called “Sizing the Clean Economy,” include much more than green energy; for example, mass transit, waste management, and recycling. KCPW’s Jeff Robinson spoke with Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.
Presidential candidate and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman reiterated his support for a controversial plan to transform Medicare over the weekend. Speaking to Florida Republicans in Sarasota County, he referred to the nation’s growing debt as a “cancer.” Later, he took questions from the audience, including one Republican who wanted to know about Huntsman’s past support of cap and trade.
A report from Taxpayers for Common Sense says Utahns pay $141 million a year to benefit oil and gas companies through tax breaks. The report, called “Subsidy Gusher” details the tax breaks that oil and gas companies receive. Vice President Steve Ellis says while Congress explores ways to reform the tax code and cut back spending on entitlement programs, itshould be cutting out big tax breaks to boot.
To build or not to build a nuclear power plant in Utah? That was the question before the legislature’s Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee Wednesday at the state Capitol. The meeting focused on the possibility of the federal government approving a nuclear power plant in Utah in the next five years…but as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports, some say there’s too much at stake.
The debate over nuclear power is not just a theoretical one in Utah, with a former state lawmaker trying to build a nuclear plant along the state’s Green River and a radioactive waste storage facility located not far from Salt Lake City. That makes it a fitting place for journalist and nuclear expert Jonathan Schell, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book The Fate of the Earth, who’s speaking Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City residents who live near Red Butte Creek say they still feel the effects of the Chevron oil spill last June that sent more than 30,000 gallons of crude oil flowing downstream. Over the weekend, the city celebrated the cleanup of Liberty Lake, where a lot of that oil settled. But as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, residents upstream say there’s little cause for celebration.
Should Utah’s Public Service Commission continue a nearly five-year old program that pays residents and businesses to install solar power systems? Local clean energy advocates not only hope the answer is yes, they want to see the small incentive program expanded. The commission is taking comments on the program now before making its decision.
The Salt Palace Convention Center is preparing for a 2.5-megawatt jolt from what’s being called the largest single rooftop solar system in the United States. The project, led by Salt Lake County, took off last September, but hit a speed bump when the county didn’t complete contracts in time to receive necessary federal tax credits. Darrin Casper, the county’s chief financial officer, says they were just late in the process, so they had to wait for the 2011 tax credits.
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