Utah
On May 24, the Navajo Nation had 4,658 reported cases and 165 deaths in a population of 173,000—more even than New York City—while local organizers scrambled to find the water to cover the need during the pandemic.
Outside
The Utah Inland Port Authority has moved forward quickly with a plan to build a massive inland port complex, despite the objections of local officials in Salt Lake City.
High Country News
A legal battle is being waged between the coal-exporting states of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana and coastal cities in California, Oregon, and Washington that pits the power of local land-use authority against the protection of interstate commerce.
Los Angeles Times
The state auditor and the transportation chief argue that the gas tax is an unsustainable funding source caused by a projected increase in electric vehicle adoption and an increase in fuel efficiency of gas-powered vehicles.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Developers of a ski town in Utah are expanding the weekend tech conference into a village with permanent residents.
The Architect's Newspaper
Light rail, bus rapid transit, subway cell service, and more.
WAMU
The Los Angeles municipal utility will convert a Utah coal power plant to run on natural gas in 2025. According to a proposal unveiled Dec. 10, the plant will incrementally be converted to run entirely on hydrogen, a zero-emission fuel, by 2045.
Utility Dive
New research is quantifying the environmental consequences of land use patterns and water diversions in Northern Utah.
The Salt Lake Tribune
As housing prices rise all over the country, quickly growing states like Colorado, Idaho, and Utah are transforming in ways some residents didn't anticipate or desire. Such circumstances are a breeding ground for anti-development politics.
Pew Stateline
Records in Salt Lake City show that police in Salt Lake City concentrate jaywalking enforcement in the corner of the city that houses most of the city's homeless services.
The Salt Lake City Tribune
Construction of a border wall would have grave social and environmental consequences, but retailers with clout are not stepping up as they have when other places have been threatened.
High Country News
An email survey of scooter riders in Salt Lake City would seem to make the case for more robust investment in high-quality active transportation infrastructure.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is under severe assault from the Trump administration, Stephen Trimble writes. Long the focus of preservation efforts, the protected land is being opened up for extractive uses.
The Hill
A hugely significant water and power infrastructure project in the works in Utah is now only a water project.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Nevada is one of 15 states in the Western Road Usage Charge Consortium that are considering a transition from funding their transportation budgets largely by taxing the gallons of fuel that vehicles burn to charging drivers for miles driven.
Route Fifty
Having completed a pilot program last year, the Washington State Transportation Commission will hear a report in October and vote in December on phasing out its 49.4 cents per gallon gas tax, fourth highest in the nation but not indexed to inflation.
Tacoma News Tribune
Most of the aging 350-megawatt Grayson Power Plant, operated by Glendale Water & Power, will be retired by 2021. The city's utility district has struggled with how to repower it. A compromise reached last month ensures low emissions and reliability.
Greentech Media
Bus riders in Park City will win prizes and swag for boarding the bus the week of July 29.
KPCW
Environmentalists in California are upset that Los Angeles will build a new 840-megawatt natural gas plant to replace a 1,800-megawatt coal plant. The coal plant has been crucial to the economic development of Millard County, Utah.
Los Angeles Times
How will motorists who don't pay gas taxes fund road upkeep? That's one of the questions that the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee hopes to answer this summer as they work to reauthorize the FAST Act before it expires on Sept. 30, 2020.
Route Fifty
