Death by a thousand cuts. The current administration is ignoring science, plowing ahead with plans to undo monument protections, neuter the EPA, log old growth forests, jeopardize water quality, and cut Forest Service, Park Service and Bureau of Land Management employees, already underfunded. All of this affects us in Utah. We are currently in a fight for the Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River while our air quality suffers and fire season has begun. It is hotter and drier.
Now, instead of protecting our air quality by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energies which are less expensive and reliable, the state is jumping on the Trump bandwagon of destruction by promoting fossil fuel production, pushing forward untenable data center construction which will raise air pollution and jeopardize the GSL, and are in full support of withdrawing a management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. They welcome changes and cuts to the Forest Service which will leave our forests in jeopardy and fires more likely.
All this as they promise to save the Great Salt Lake and threaten it with data centers, destruction of wetlands, and by bending a knee to Trump for extra money. I struggle with the hypocrisy and false promises.
Our “leaders’” actions are so out of touch with Utahns, I wonder who they are representing. I had hoped Utah would be different, that those with the most money wouldn’t have the most power. Our leaders should be protecting us, and that means our environment and all that makes Utah such a special place. Their duty is to understand all the issues, their long-term effects on us all, and vote accordingly. Remember this when you vote. We must hold them to it.
Patricia Becnel, Ogden