Miss: Drying Out
A recent meeting of the Alliance for a Better Utah featured a visiting speaker who admitted he did not know much about the threats to the Great Salt Lake. He's probably not alone. A 2023 BYU report calls the lake "a keystone ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere" and concludes that water conservation is the answer. Now, the urgent message is being called a hoax—even by the governor. A three-part series in The Salt Lake Tribune highlights the threats but also minimizes the solutions, according to BYU's Ben Abbott in an open-letter response to the Tribune. Abbott believes that the series presents climate change as the main cause of the lake's decline, which he says is untrue. The upshot, based on the reporting, is that you may as well sit back because there's nothing you can do to stop the decline. "Many of the world's saline lakes are facing a double whammy: People are taking more water from the tributaries that feed the lakes, while a hotter, drier climate means it takes longer to refill them," Science News reported. Doing nothing is an easy answer to a complicated problem.
Hit: Rule of Law
Maybe our lawmakers see climate change as taking too long to fix. Better to just ignore it. Environmentalists in Montana are taking a swing at that kind of thinking. And they won, as litigation against governments and corporations becomes a powerful strategy. 2023 was the hottest year in the planet's history, and 2,796 climate cases have been filed since 2011—1,850 of which were filed in the U.S., according to Earth.org. The Montana teens sued based on the state constitution, which requires agencies to "maintain and improve" a clean environment. Their governor signed a law last year restricting environmental reviews considering climate impacts, but the court calls that unconstitutional. Montana has work to do now, since the case cannot be appealed to SCOTUS.
Miss: Stop the Presses
'Tis the season as the Legislature gets Grinchier. Your lawmakers don't like all the noise that Whoville makes, so they're grabbing all the presents. Think of it this way: the reporters who make possible the public's right to know are way too noisy—and nosey—for the Legislature's delicate sensibilities. Lawmakers are chipping away at such citizen presents as sending notes to lawmakers in session and having physical access. Now they've come for more. Bryan Schott—a reporter who created an independent website after being kicked from the Tribune—has become the face of Whoville. He calls himself "the most feared journalist in Utah," although that's likely a stretch. Still, after decades of covering the Legislature, Schott was denied press credentials. "Utah Capitol media credentials are currently not issued to blogs, independent, or other freelance journalists," an email said. It's all just too much noise for the Grinch.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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