Utah
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
The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan will head to President Trump's desk for an expected signature before heading back to seven states for final ratification.
Cronkite News
The National League of Cities has a new report surveying local tools for addressing the housing affordability crisis. State partnerships are included.
Governing
Las Vegas has almost maximized its growth potential given projects for its future water supply—something has to give.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Drone footage and 3d models reveal the stakes in an ongoing legal controversy surrounding the Trump administration's attempt to undo the Obama administration's use of the Antiquities Act to create the Bears Ears National Monument.
The Washington Post
When transportation spending was last reauthorized, rather than hike the gas tax to maintain current spending, Congress diverted general fund revenue. A program to study alternative revenue options was created so states could launch pilot projects.
Transport Topics
Feature
The plans, they are a-changin.
An annual reports finds a growing number of homelessness in Utah. That information, coupled with mistakes in earlier reports, casts doubt on the state's record of success in housing vulnerable populations.
Place
State preemption, in the form major zoning reforms and mandates for local housing targets, are on the table in the Utah Legislature this year.
The Salt Lake Tribune
Four mayors hammer home the point that moving to 100 percent clean energy on the municipal level is environmentally, economically, and politically desirable.
Next City
It was not your basic fuel tax hike. Utah voters were told that raising the tax would help education by redirecting revenue from the General Fund to schools that currently goes to transportation. Yet voters also passed decidedly liberal initiatives.
Deseret News
