This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
While environmental groups complain they are being ignored by legislators at the Utah Capitol when trying to make comments on clean-air initiatives, state officials are making sure the industries that critics cite as air polluters are getting their message out loud and clear.
The Utah Office of Energy Development (OED) is soliciting public school teachers to help develop a science curricula promoting nonrenewable energy — or fossil fuels.
An email to educators said the OED is working with the Consumer Energy Alliance to develop the curricula. CEA is a pro-fossil-fuels organization that has endorsed offshore oil drilling in the Arctic and is opposed to the Clean Power Plan.
Educators have been invited to a series of meetings beginning this week and lasting through April and possibly into May, according to the email. They are being asked to brainstorm ideas for a good curricula that teaches students all the good things about fossil fuels.
This isn't the first time a state agency has tried to sway young minds toward a certain public policy position using school resources. The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining was criticized a few years ago for sponsoring an Earth Day poster contest in the public schools that encouraged students to produce pro-fossil fuel posters showing the benefits of those resources to our way of life.
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All for one • Another state agency is getting actively involved in a movement to tilt public opinion on public lands issues toward policy positions favored by the fossil-fuels industry.
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food recently sent an email to state employees encouraging them to write to U.S. Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz in support of their Public Lands Initiative, a sweeping land-use proposal that has been criticized by environmental groups as a giveaway to special interests.
"We would like PLI to move forward by submitting positive comments," wrote Kathleen Matthews, the department's administrative assistant. "Please send any comments you may have to Casey Snider, legislative director for Congressman Bishop, and Fred Ferguson, chief of staff for Congressman Chaffetz," she added, and included their email addresses.
If people have questions, Stewart wrote, they should contact Andy Pierucci, policy analyst for the Agriculture and Food Department.
There was no indication whether comments from state employees would be monitored to see which employees obeyed the edict.
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Speak no evil • The Utah Legislature recently honored the passing of Dee Holladay, founder of Holladay River Expeditions, for his work in preserving open and clean rivers.
There were, as to be expected, many moving testimonies in the Senate about the importance of keeping Utah rivers open and flowing.
But when Holladay's granddaughter, Lauren Wood, asked to speak, she was told no one other than senators can speak on the Senate floor.
All she wanted to say was that it was ironic that just the hour before honoring her grandfather, the Senate voted to fund the Lake Powell Pipeline and the Bear River Dam projects that Holladay, the honoree of all those testimonials, would have strongly opposed.
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Cough, sputter, snort • While most of us in the Salt Lake Valley continue to struggle with chronic coughing and sore throats during the annual winter air pollution, a trip to Salt Lake City International Airport should cause increased concern.
I have reported a couple of times about a local self-appointed exhaust-pollution cop tattling on Utah Transit Authority vehicles idling their trucks and vans in violation of Salt Lake City's anti-idling ordinance.
Those who frequent the airport tell me the problem is exponentially worse.
First of all, numerous cars with drivers waiting to pick up travelers in the airport's park-and-wait lot idle for up to 15 or 20 minutes while awaiting the arrival of a flight.
Even worse is the ground transportation lot, where on any given day dozens of vans and SUVs can be seen idling away while waiting for customers.
And they apparently do it with impunity.