Tim Fitzpatrick

The Utah Legislature pumped the brakes Wednesday on a plan that could have Utah taxpayers assume ownership of a coal-fired power plant in the west-central part of the state that is in the process of being shut down.

Remote Natural Bridges National Monument has a spot in clean energy history: It once had the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in the world.

In 2019, 16 Utah cities and towns and two counties set out to get 100% renewable power for their residents. Five years later, that goal is still far in the distance.

A stretch of the Layton Canal in Weber County will be covered in solar panels in a federally funded test to see if can be a solution that would save water and produce clean energy.

Rocky Mountain plans to burn coal in Utah until 2042 and abandons its nuclear energy plans, citing recent ozone decisions made by federal government.

The Bureau of Land Management has put out its new environmental impact statement for solar projects, and its preferred alternative would prohibit projects on 10% or steeper slopes and require them to be near existing or planned transmission lines. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance says that still includes some places they consider wilderness.

Utah’s 120-year-old Bingham Canyon Mine continues to produce millions of tons of ore, but satellite photos don’t show much expansion of the open pit.

Utah-based clean energy developer rPlus Energy is quadrupling the batteries on its Emery County solar plant, which will make it one of the nation’s largest battery installations.

What does the Utah Legislature’s recent efforts to keep coal plants running do the state’s conversion to clean energy? Utah is already behind other states in the percentage of renewable energy it uses, and Utahns have a carbon footprint that is more than twice what residents in West Coast states have.

With Utah passing bills to keep coal power going in Utah, will it slow the state’s progress toward clean energy?