The last Wasatch Back communities who can join Utah’s new renewable energy program are Coalville and Oakley.
Both plan to accept public input before their city councils are set to vote on May 26 and May 27, respectively.
KUER reports the push to tap renewable energy locally comes as the federal government promotes fossil fuels, which increase the global average temperature and may intensify Utah’s drought.
Unincorporated Summit County, Park City and, most recently, Francis voted to join the Community Clean Energy Program this spring. Utah’s 19 participating cities and counties have until June 2 to do so.
Francis resident Isabelle Frazier told her local representatives their decision can have a statewide impact, alluding to the recently approved data center in Box Elder County.
“The timing of this vote really matters because Utah's energy demand is about to change drastically,” she said at the May 14 Francis City Council meeting.
“With the new proposed infrastructure in northern Utah, we're going to see our energy bills shifting, and I think renewable energy will help us maintain a level that we can afford. Renewable energy is actually among the cheapest power sources available.”
Utah already uses traditional natural gas, which burns relatively clean, but it’s finite. Frazier argued that increased demand on Rocky Mountain Power’s system overall will require more power from the Hunter and Huntington coal plants in central Utah.
“That's contributing to the smog that we see in Salt Lake creeping into Park City, and then you can also view it now over Arches and Capitol Reef,” Frazier added. “Which is very disappointing, as someone who's born and raised in the state.”
The Utah Legislature passed the law creating the clean energy initiative in 2019 so the state could work with Rocky Mountain Power to add new renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, nuclear or geothermal.
The councils in Coalville and Oakley have previously discussed the program, but opted to gather public input before deciding whether to join.
Coalville councilmembers in particular expressed skepticism earlier this month before voting 4-1 to table the issue until May 26.
That’s partly because there is a $4 monthly cost from residents to fund the construction of clean energy infrastructure.
Councilmember Lynn Wood also noted that energy is a particularly partisan issue at the national level.
“It’s not strictly a local issue,” Wood said. “I would be more prone to say, you know, ‘Let's do it, it's a local issue, it affects us.’ But this is a regional — if not global — matter, and we're kind of taking a stand on a very politically charged issue by going like that. That's kind of where I am.”
One of the architects of the program, Summit County Sustainability Director Emily Quinton, says it’s about giving residents who can’t put up solar panels, for example, an option they didn’t have before.
When local governments join the program, Rocky Mountain Power customers in their borders are automatically enrolled, but it’s free to opt out within six months of the program’s launch. Residents will still be able to opt out after that for $30.
Low-income residents are exempt from any fees. The program’s estimated launch date is later this year or early 2027.
