Folks who hold elective office in Utah spend a lot of their time and your money trying to get the federal government to go away and leave us alone.
Even when the feds are trying to protect Utahns from hazardous pollution or threats to the lives and health of the most vulnerable among us, our state officials argue that they, not anyone from any far-away federal agency, can do the best job.
Here are a couple of chances for them to prove it.
New reports indicate that Kennecott’s giant Bingham Canyon Mine, just west of Salt Lake City, is one of the dirtiest things in the country. It produces tons of hazardous chemicals and metals, the third most of any of the 90 mines on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list. The mine is the largest single factor making Utah — 30th in terms of population — fourth on the list of states with hazardous materials that make their way into our air, water and bodies.
If our state officials, executive and legislative, were as vigilant and energetic about actually cleaning up our air and water as they are about waving the bloody flag of “federal overreach,” we might see some significant improvement in these areas.
Utah might see itself as more collaborative than confrontational, working with Kennecott and other industrial polluters to clean up their act. Bingham Canyon is cleaner than it used to be, and it does produce copper and other metals our economy needs.
But without a credible threat of investigation, enforcement and some really massive fines, there is no reason to expect things to get any better.
Meanwhile, the Disability Law Center and other advocates have been urging state officials to crack down on long-term care centers where patients are far too often abused and neglected, sometimes in filthy conditions, some to the point of death. Frustrated by 10 years of inadequate responses from the state, advocates have now petitioned the federal government to step in and protect some of the most vulnerable people in Utah.
We can have highly principled arguments about whether this or that function is the proper responsibility of the states or of the federal government. But if our state officials want any job, they should prove that they are willing and able to do it.
So far, in too many cases, they haven’t.