Thank you to Gov. Spencer Cox for his leadership and hard work securing the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games for Utah. As a professional skier who is passionate about the Wasatch Mountains’ unparalleled beauty and powder, I can’t wait for Utah to once again share the stoke with the world.
It is especially encouraging that Utah has committed to hosting a “climate-positive” Olympics, given the state is already experiencing the consequences of a hotter, dryer climate fueled by climate pollution. Even though the Games are a decade away, we must start now to ensure we have the snowpack, clean air, abundant water and healthy communities needed to host the Games and position Utah to continue to prosper.
Utah’s Division of Air Quality under the Department of Environmental Quality is taking an important step this year, revising the state’s air quality rules to implement methane standards for new oil and gas sites that will reduce emissions from oil and gas operations. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 80 times more powerful at warming the climate than carbon dioxide in the short term, meaning that cutting this pollution is the quickest, most cost-effective way to slow the rate of warming and avert even worse droughts, wildfires and extreme weather.