(KCPW News) After months of pressure from local environmental groups, Governor Gary Herbert announced three new investigations into possible infractions by medical incinerator Stericycle. Wednesday’s announcement comes just a week after an anonymous former employee of Stericycle made claims of wrongdoing in a video interview. A statement from the governor’s office revealed that the Utah…
Today on the program we revisit conversation about the depletion of groundwater from beneath the Colorado River Basin. That draw-down is happening so quickly that long term water security in the West is threatened. So said Rundown guests Stephanie Castle, a water resource specialist at the University of California Irvine, and Jay Famiglietti, a senior…
(KCPW News) Utah Governor Gary Herbert says he has assurance from the Secretary of the Interior that no new federal monument will be created in Utah. The governor, recently back from a trip to Washington, DC, spoke with various officials from the Obama Administration last week on issues ranging from healthcare to public lands. He…
Today on the show we’re joined by Laynee Jones, Program Manager for a multi-party, collaborative effort to try to plan the future of the Central Wasatch Mountains called the Mountain Accord. Plus your top local headlines and more.
(KCPW News) A new report asserts that hundreds of oil and gas wells around the country have been pumping thousands of gallons of diesel into the ground without required federal permits as part of the so-called fracking process. The report by the Environmental Integrity Project lists one such well in Utah’s Carbon County. But the…
(KCPW News) It’s summer, so you’re probably not thinking about a roaring fire in your fireplace. But if Breathe Utah has its way, you won’t ever think about it again. According to the clean air advocacy group, eleven homes in Salt Lake County rely on either wood or coal for their sole source of heat…
Producer Ross Chambless reports on Governor Herbert’s 2014 Energy Summit and his response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 2030. Meanwhile environmentalists criticized Utah’s slow embrace of renewable technologies and the governor’s energy policy, and energy policy expert Ted Norhaus said the proposed regulations simply codify a…
(KCPW News) Ozone is associated with summer air pollution in populated places. Today in northeastern Utah, even within the city limits of Vernal, the air is clean. But almost everything about air pollution here is backwards. “We have never had ozone exceedances in the summer unless there’s a really strong wildfires influence,” explains Seth Lyman,…
(KCPW News) A prominent climate scientist is in Utah this week to trumpet the cause of local, environmentally-conscientious institutions. Dr. Michael Mann, a climatologist at Penn State University, was the featured speaker of a press conference on Wednesday. He and other speakers highlighted the mounting evidence that climate change poses a threat to people around…
(KCPW News) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a deal in place meant to protect two species of desert flowers native to Utah. However, the proposal would keep both plants off the endangered species list, and that has some conservationists concerned. KCPW’s Ryan Cunningham has the details.
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