May 01, 2017(The Enterprise) - Employment in Utah’s coal mining and coal power industries has been declining for decades, due in part to shrinking demand for coal and improvements in mining technology, according to new research from the Utah Foundation. The report also concluded that policy changes promised by the Trump administration are unlikely to change that. The report is the second in a series of three on Utah’s coal industry and on the communities that have depended on it … Continued
April 30, 2017(Enterprise) - Employment in Utah’s coal mining and coal power industries has been declining for decades, due in part to shrinking demand for coal and improvements in mining technology, according to new research from the Utah Foundation. The report also concluded that policy changes promised by the Trump administration are unlikely to change that. The report is the second in a series of three on Utah’s coal industry and on the communities that have depended on it … Continued
April 20, 2017(Deseret News) - The IRS made its demands on us last Tuesday. Not long after, the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, published its annual “tax freedom day” report. This is the formula that calculates how long you would have to work to pay your entire yearly federal, state and local tax bill if every penny you earn, beginning Jan. 1, went for that purpose. This year’s freedom day is April 23; Utah’s is April 21. … Continued
April 19, 2017(Fox 13 News) - Failing grades are bad enough when they are judgments on the quality of a student’s math or English proficiency, but Wednesday the state of Utah got several F’s based on the quality of the air the lion’s share of residents breathe. The American Lung Association issued their annual “State of the Air” report card. They judge states and localities by three measures of air pollution: short-term particulates, ozone, and annual particle pollution.
April 20, 2017(KSL.com) - The coal-friendly policies of the Trump administration may not be enough to reverse the tide of decreasing jobs in the mining industry, despite assurances by the new U.S. president to put coal miners back to work. That conclusion is one of several findings in a report released Wednesday by the Utah Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization. The foundation’s second report looking at coal mining and coal-fired electrical generation in the state focused … Continued
June 01, 2025(UtahPolicy.com) - Employment in Utah’s coal mining and coal power industries has been declining for decades, due in part to shrinking demand for coal and improvements in mining technology. Policy changes promised by the Trump administration are unlikely to change that. Those are among the conclusions of a new research report from Utah Foundation, the second in a series of three on Utah’s coal industry and on the communities that have depended on it for generations.
April 19, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - Trump administration policies to revive the struggling coal industry may “do little” to restore coal-mining jobs in Utah, the Utah Foundation reported Wednesday. In the second of a series of three reports on Utah’s coal industry, the nonpartisan public-policy research organization determined that political changes will not reverse decades of decline due to a shrinking demand for coal and worker-replacing technology, such as voracious longwall mining machines. Foundation report author Shawn Teigen said about 1,000 … Continued
April 19, 2017(Deseret News) - The coal-friendly policies of the Trump administration may not be enough to reverse the tide of decreasing jobs in the mining industry, despite assurances by the new U.S. president to put coal miners back to work. That conclusion is one of several findings in a report released Wednesday by the Utah Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization. The foundation’s second report looking at coal mining and coal-fired electrical generation in the state focused … Continued
April 14, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah’s public education system is currently the lowest-funded in the nation on a per-student basis, and schools throughout the state are reporting a staffing shortage as teachers abandon the profession. A recent report by the Utah Foundation found that tax policy has diverted roughly $1.2 billion in annual funding from public schools. And Cox remarked that a tax increase of $750 million would move Utah’s school funding ranking from 50th “all the way to” 49th.
April 04, 2017(Deseret News) - Young people in Utah have often been touted for bucking national trends, according Utah Foundation report. The 2015 report found Utah has the second-highest homeownership rate among those 18-to-34 years old. “A lot of it just comes out of the fact that we get married younger and we have children younger, and if you are married or if you do have kids, your likelihood of being a homeowner just increases,” Mallory Bateman, research analyst for … Continued
March 29, 2017(The Spectrum) - Utah is one of six states that gets more than two-thirds of its energy from coal. Nationally, coal provides about 32 percent of the nation’s electricity. In an analysis published earlier this month by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan Salt Lake City think-tank, coal production was shown to have declined statewide for years, with 2015 production little more than half of what it was in 2001. In addition, the cost of electricity from natural gas, … Continued
March 24, 2017(Topix.com) - The continued political and economic pressure on coal production in Utah and around the United States drove the Utah Foundation to examine the issue in a series of three reports, the first of which was released Wednesday. Among the top observations in the first installment are the close relationships at play between lower electricity prices and coal rich states – such as Utah – and the uncertainty that persists over the viability of coal-fired power … Continued
March 23, 2017(UtahPulse.com) - After 15 years at the helm of Utah Foundation, Steve Kroes is moving on to new opportunities in his home state of California. The Utah Foundation Board of Trustees is ready to interview candidates for his position. The president is responsible for ensuring the highest quality in Utah Foundation’s research, communications, government and community relations. S/he must also be committed to rigorous fundraising and donor relations effort, devoting significant energies to raising the revenue need … Continued
March 23, 2017(UtahPulse.com) - Most coal consumption in the United States is for electricity generation. However, coal-fueled electricity’s share of the total has been decreasing. This is due in large part to the availability of low-cost natural gas, stringent environmental regulations that affect coal-fueled power plants, and favorable tax treatment for renewable technologies. Coal-fueled power plants have been closing and others are reducing their total output. As a result, coal production is also decreasing. Utah is one of only six states that gets … Continued
March 23, 2017(KSL.com) - The continued political and economic pressure on coal production in Utah and around the United States drove the Utah Foundation to examine the issue in a series of three reports, the first of which was released Wednesday. Among the top observations in the first installment are the close relationships at play between lower electricity prices and coal rich states — such as Utah — and the uncertainty that persists over the viability of coal-fired power … Continued
March 22, 2017(Deseret News) - The continued political and economic pressure on coal production in Utah and around the United States drove the Utah Foundation to examine the issue in a series of three reports, the first of which was released Wednesday. Among the top observations in the first installment are the close relationships at play between lower electricity prices and coal rich states — such as Utah — and the uncertainty that persists over the viability of coal-fired power … Continued
March 20, 2017(UtahPulse.com) - In Utah, conservative thought flourishes, and the tax burden has declined over the last two decades. The Utah Foundation has noted that state taxes in Utah are the lowest they’ve been in 20 years. The Tax Foundation recently ranked Utah the ninth best state in state business tax climate, and a low 41st in state and local tax collections per capita. It will always be true that more needs exist than we can take care … Continued
March 20, 2017(Spectrum) - Utah has gradually seen its investment in public education erode over the years, thanks to a series of tax cuts and rule changes, especially a mid-90s reform to property tax assessments and the virtual elimination of income tax brackets in 2007. In 1995 Utah ranked 7th in the nation in education funding when measured as a percentage of earned income, but by 2015 it had fallen to 37th place, according to an analysis by the … Continued
March 20, 2017(KSL.com) - State officials, county leaders, educators, business owners were among a group who got together Monday night to talk about concerns impacting communities all around Utah. The town hall meeting took place at the original Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore and lasted about an hour and a half. People who attended the meeting raised concerns about clean air, better salaries for teachers, public lands, growth and economic hardships.
March 21, 2017(Salt Lake Tribune) - While the Legislature was dealing with a series of alcohol-related bills this session, the Utah Foundation found in its archives a study on Utah alcohol laws and reform efforts in 1949. It seems the tinkering to make things better never stops. During the campaign for governor in 1948 between Democratic incumbent Herbert Maw and Republican challenger J. Bracken Lee, the management of Utah’s state liquor monopoly was a major issue. At one time, the liquor … Continued
March 20, 2017(KSL.com) - State officials, county leaders, educators, business owners were among a group who got together Monday night to talk about concerns impacting communities all around Utah. The town hall meeting took place at the original Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore and lasted about an hour and a half. People who attended the meeting raised concerns about clean air, better salaries for teachers, public lands, growth and economic hardships . . . Rural Utah also has its share … Continued
March 08, 2017(US News) - Challenges do lay ahead: Residents consume large amounts of energy and water, a particular concern in the high desert. Salt Lake County, largely encircled by mountains, faces perennial air-quality problems, which some policy experts say the state has been slow to address, particularly in light of its opposition at the national level to stricter federal clean air regulations. And the sales and gas taxes approved by voters and the legislature – including a gas tax … Continued
March 01, 2017(St. George News) - Our Schools Now is planning to gather signatures for a ballot initiative in 2018 that, if passed, would raise state income tax .008 percent, from 5 percent to 5.875 percent. The measure would raise an extra $750 million each year which would go directly to education, giving Utah schools about $1,000 more per student. According to the Utah Foundation, Utah’s K-12 education funding has fallen from seventh to 37th in the nation over the past … Continued
February 28, 2017(Utah Public Radio) - The Our Schools Now initiative would allow local schools to have a say in how the money that is generated through the initiative is spent. New funds would be required to be used in ways that improve student learning. Research from the Utah Foundation estimates that $1.2 billion in education spending has disappeared over the last 20 years.
February 27, 2017(The Spectrum) - An analysis published by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan research group based in Salt Lake City, suggested the state has dramatically cut its investment in education over the past 20 years through a series of tax cuts and rule changes, especially a mid-90s reform to property tax assessments and legislation in 2007 that essentially eliminated tax income brackets where higher-income earners would pay higher rates. In 1995 Utah ranked 7th in the nation in education … Continued
