News Release: Sierra Club 2016 Legislative Scorecards

Contact: Turner Bitton 801/564-3860

Mark Clemens 801/467-9294 x102 Dan Mayhew 801/712-5353

Salt Lake City—The 2016 General Session of the Utah legislature manifested many symptoms of bi-polar disorder. "For someone determined to see 2016 as a good year for the environment, there was a handful of good air quality bills. Bills passed to promote more charging stations for electric vehicles and to ratchet up standards for natural-gas fired water heaters," said Mark Clemens, manager of the Utah Chapter. "But in most other respects, the legislature rushed to the opposite pole with bills that undermined water quality and wetlands. And predictably several bills were passed to try to seize the public lands that belong to all Americans" After having passed a bill in 2015 authorizing a fund for dams and water diversions, Senator Stuart Adams doubled down on his ignorance of desert ecosystems by sponsoring SB 80 to transfer transportation funding into the Bear River and Lake Powell Pipelines. "It’s a close race between the scope of the damage these pipelines would do to Utah’s infrastructure budget on the one hand and Utah’s environment on the other, but the full devastation to Utah’s rivers and lakes would not be apparent for years," stated Dan Mayhew, conservation co-chair of the Utah Chapter. “If you think the air pollution along the Wasatch Front is bad now, just wait until wind storms begin whipping in alkali and heavy metals from exposed deposits around what remains of a Great Salt Lake depleted by Adams’s pipelines.” The Sierra Club recommends a veto of SB 80. Adams also sponsored legislation to funnel $53 million in public funds intended to mitigate mining impacts in the communities where those impacts occur into a proposed coal-export terminal in Oakland, California. “The perversion of the original intent of the Community Impact Board funds is striking,” said Turner Bitton, political chair of the Utah Chapter. “The Community Impact Board rejected funding for a much-needed jail reconstruction in Grand County, but those responsible think diverting $53 million into an out-of-state project is warranted. And of course the fact that a number of the supporting legislators have taken campaign contributions from Bowie Coal doesn’t make the process look any more legitimate.” On the house side, nine representatives jostled for the dunce cap with scores of 13%. Nine representatives scored 100%, up from just six in 2015. No senator 0% scored 0% this year, but Mark Madsen (R-Saratoga Springs) voted for the environment only once in our scorecard, winning the booby prize in the upper house, a 17% voting record. Four senators won top scores of 100%, up from three senators in 2015. The scorecards are available at on the Utah Chapter website. Bills are usually chosen across a range of topics such as public lands, air quality, energy, wildlife and public health. Bills are also chosen to include both those with broad support as well as some that have not yet gained consensus.

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