Utah
In conservative Utah, some communities are ditching fossil fuel power for clean energy
In conservative Utah, a group of communities joined forces to bring more renewable energy to the electric grid. The group ranges from the state’s largest city to rural towns, such as Coalville. Their effort could be a model for other U.S. cities to take climate action, even as the federal government pulls back on clean power.
Kim Raff for NPR
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Kim Raff for NPR
NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about how communities are moving forward on climate solutions despite significant political headwinds. As the federal government halts plans to address climate change, states, cities, regions, and even neighborhoods are trying to fill the gap by cutting climate pollution and adapting to extreme weather.
COALVILLE, Utah — Since the first day of his second term, President Trump has targeted renewable power. He has signed executive orders aimed at reviving the coal industry. He’s pushed policies to halt new solar and wind development.
Despite this, a coalition of big cities and small towns in conservative Utah is charting a different path — one that will bring more renewable power to the electric grid. The effort could be a model for other U.S. cities to take climate action, even as the federal government pulls back on clean power.
Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, is one of 19 communities that formed Utah Renewable Communities. Roughly three-quarters of Utah’s electricity comes from coal and natural gas. The coalition is aiming to bring new clean energy to the grid by 2030.
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Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group Editorial
Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, is one of 19 communities that formed Utah Renewable Communities. The collaboration has a big goal: generate enough clean electricity to offset the power used in their nearly 300,000 homes and businesses.
To do this, the coalition plans to build renewable energy projects. Think solar arrays and wind farms.
It’s taken years to get to this point. They’ve had to get regulations updated to work directly with the regional utility to add clean energy to the grid. And they’ve had to figure out how to pay for projects.
Now the rules are in place. And the utility, Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp, is on board.
Coal mining history goes way back in Coalville, a small town in northern Utah’s Summit County. But adding more renewables to Utah’s energy mix is about looking to the future, Summit County Sustainability Director Emily Quinton said, improving reliability and costs for customers in the years to come. “Clean energy is not just here and now,” she said. “It absolutely is a long-term investment that I think leads to a stronger grid in the long run.” Here, a statue commemorating the town’s coal-mining history stands outside Coalville City Hall.
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Utah’s bond with coal runs deep
As the name suggests, coal was once the lifeblood of Coalville.
A life-size statue of a miner on Main Street serves as a reminder of the town’s roots. This small mountain town was one of Utah’s first coal communities. Coal was discovered in the area in the late 1850s.
“We do have a legacy here,” said Emily Quinton, sustainability director of Summit County, where Coalville is located. “Not just the coal that was mined here, but we’re in a state of Utah where the state rock is coal.”
Now, Summit County and Coalville are two of the Utah communities betting their future not on coal, but on renewables.
The coalition’s push for clean energy comes at a time when three-quarters of Utah’s electricity is generated from coal and natural gas. These fossil fuels produce planet-warming pollution that drives climate change. State leaders have taken recent action to keep Utah’s coal industry alive, including legislation extending the lifespan of coal-fired power plants that were set to be decommissioned.
But Utah’s energy mix is changing. Roughly 22% of its electricity comes from renewables, such as wind, solar and hydropower. The coalition of 19 cities, towns and counties — which also includes red rock tourism hotspots Moab and Springdale — is working together to expand that trajectory.
It’s a unique strategy, particularly at a time when the federal government has done a U-turn on supporting renewables.
With so many different types of communities in the collaboration, Summit County Sustainability Director Emily Quinton said it’s important to recognize and honor the various reasons people have for joining. “Some people are going to be motivated by pollution that can be avoided by clean energy,” she said. “Some people are going to be motivated by a core climate action goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
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Kim Raff for NPR
“The fact that our efforts here have been happening over the course of multiple federal administrations already,” Quinton said, “it shows us that at the local level, you can continue to move on climate strategies regardless of the federal winds.”
That doesn’t mean it has been easy. The coalition has been working toward its goal for several years, driven by residents’ demand for more clean energy options, she said. But it’s taken longer than the communities expected.
“It’s obviously difficult to try to work with 19 different processes,” said Quinton, who is also the coalition’s board secretary. “But I’ve been so impressed this whole time that we have functioned, I would say, very well as a collaborative.”
The state Legislature first had to pass a law in 2019 to make this type of community-utility collaboration possible. The legislation created a framework for the state to regulate it.
That was no small feat, explained Steve Handy, the Republican state representative who championed the bill. In Utah, renewables have often been politicized. Handy said pushback came over what supporting solar and wind could mean for towns where coal is an economic driver.
But in Handy’s view, adding more sources to Utah’s energy mix just makes sense.
“Utah needs all of the power that it can get with the data centers, the advent of artificial intelligence, EVs,” he said. “We can’t get it just from coal-based, fossil fuel-based, because that is now one of the more expensive options.”
Many residents in Park City, Utah, feel the urgency to address climate change, especially this year. Record warm winter temperatures zapped the snow that’s the foundation of the economy and identity of this mountainous area.
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The urgency of climate change
The winter sports hub, Park City, is also part of the coalition. Residents feel an urgency to reduce planet-warming pollution, especially this year, said Luke Cartin, director of lands and sustainability for Park City.
He watched as a ski lift chair hovered over a grassy hill. This slope near where skiers and snowboarders raced during the 2002 Winter Olympics is typically blanketed in snow all spring.
This year, historically warm temperatures zapped the snow that’s the foundation of Park City’s economy and identity. Utah and other Western states had their warmest winter on record.
Utah’s snowpack levels typically peak in early April. A dry winter paired with a warm spring meant Utah’s meager snow cover melted away several weeks ahead of normal this year.
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David Condos/KUER
Then came the early spring heat waves. Researchers with World Weather Attribution found those heat waves would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.
“Instead of just saying, ‘Hey, we held up a sign, but nothing happened,’” Cartin said, “we made this change in one of the most conservative states in the country.” It’s something, he said, “the community can take pride in.”
The Utah coalition’s work is getting noticed. Cartin said he’s fielding questions from communities in other states about how they could do something similar.
“That’s been the really interesting part of being able to present in Montana and Idaho,” Cartin said, “being like, ‘Hey, we figured this out. You can figure it out, too.’”
Park City Director of Lands and Sustainability Luke Cartin said the Utah collaboration’s efforts have been fueled by residents’ demand for more clean energy options. “There’s this pent-up emotion and want and need for this,” he said. “This can make very strong economic sense, and it can also solve a lot of other larger existential threats as well.”
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Political headwinds
Without the coalition, the projects it’s considering likely would not get built. PacifiCorp, which runs the regional utility Rocky Mountain Power, has rolled back its plans to build new renewable energy resources.
That’s been a response to the Trump administration’s moves that favor fossil fuels. Specifically, the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act undid parts of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act that had offered tax incentives for wind and solar.
“This significantly changed the economic modeling of the company’s resource planning, changing the least-cost, least-risk portfolio of resource types that are in the best interests of customers,” PacifiCorp spokesperson David Eskelsen wrote in an email.
A gravel road leads to a group of homes in Castle Valley, Utah. People living in this small desert town have felt the impacts of a warming climate, said Town Council member Pamela Gibson, and they see the logic in pursuing renewables. “I think most people recognize that there is a thing called climate change, and it is man-made, and that we should be doing everything we can,” she said.
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David Condos/KUER
Large solar and wind projects provide more cost-competitive energy than natural gas, nuclear and coal projects, according to financial services firm Lazard. Renewable energy is also proven to be reliable when it’s paired with large batteries and other types of grid management.
Politically, other red states could face challenges to pass legislation like Utah did in 2019, said Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Energy Institute at Haas.
A single initiative won’t do much to stop global climate change, he said. But even a small-scale program, such as Utah’s, could help change the narrative.
“That sort of leadership and setting an example, I think, is the real value of these sorts of efforts,” Borenstein said. “They can build momentum from towns to counties to states and ultimately to the federal government, if it can be shown to be cost-effective.”
Some communities in the Utah coalition have already taken small steps toward going renewable. Moab recently installed a rooftop solar array on City Hall to power its municipal offices. “Living in a rural place, a remote place, we have an attitude that if we want it, we’re going to have to go out and find it,” said Alexi Lamm, the town’s sustainability director. Now, the collaboration will allow Moab to offer clean power to all of its residents.
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The switch to renewables
Utah’s Public Service Commission officially approved the program earlier this year. Communities have until June 2 to pass local ordinances confirming their participation.
Once that happens, the program will have Rocky Mountain Power enroll every home in participating communities. They’ll add a $4 monthly fee to residents’ electric bills starting next year. Low-income residents can get the fee covered, and customers can still opt out.
For many rural communities, switching to all renewable power without this coalition would be next to impossible.
Take Castle Valley, population 347. This community along the Colorado River in southeast Utah is another program participant.
Castle Valley resident Alice Drogin checks on plants at her small business, Canyon Nursery. She’s hopeful her greenhouses will someday run on clean power because of the Utah program. “I have in-floor heating, so I do like my electricity,” she said, “and I would love to be able to have it sourced with renewable types of energy.”
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David Condos/KUER
Town Council member Pamela Gibson said residents wouldn’t consider themselves “radical environmentalists.” But they’ve seen climate change impact the valley — like this year’s warm, dry winter — and they want to protect their home for the future.
“We can’t solve all the problems,” Gibson said. “But if we all get together, it’s drops of water in a big pond. And we can eventually fill it up.”
Utah Renewable Communities plans to announce its first clean energy project this summer and begin generating power by 2030.
After landing Darryn Peterson at the top of Tuesday night’s first round, the Utah Jazz are heading into day two of the 2026 NBA Draft without a second round at their disposal.
However, with a front office like the one that’s in Utah, it’d be hard to truly count out the Jazz from making a trade throughout the night to jump into the second round, in the event there was a prospect the Ainges had a certain appeal for.
While most of the big names of this class have already been scooped up in the first 30 picks, there’s certainly a few both interesting and potentially valuable names to keep an eye on through the next 30.
And for the Jazz, a few of them could fit their current lineup or some specific needs well enough that would make sense to get back on the clock once again.
Let’s take a look at four prospects still left up for grabs on day two of the draft that could be a worthwhile pickup for the Jazz to consider trading up for.
Dillon Mitchell | F, St. Johns
An athletic forward fresh off of a season under Rick Pitino at St. John’s, trading up to add another D-Mitchell to Utah’s draft history might not be the worst idea here.
Offensively, he won’t bring a ton to the table, as he only averaged 8.3 points a night during his senior season and shot a rough 6.7% from three. What he does do is check a ton of boxes in terms of size at 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, as well as his abilities as a defender, rebounder, and energy guy enough to warrant a look at the top half of the second round.
For the Jazz, perhaps they’d like to land on a more dynamic fit on both ends than Mitchell. But he sure would bring a nice spark on the defensive end that Utah could utilize after multiple lackluster years of production on that end of the floor.
Richie Saunders | G, BYU
A local product who spent four years with Brigham Young, Saunders might not fit exactly the type of mold on the defensive end that Utah could really covet here in the second round.
However, he does project to be a pretty seamless connecting wing with solid NBA size standing at 6-foot-5, has a strong outside shooting ability with a 38.7% clip from deep from his career, and should be able to at least hold his own on the other end.
He’d be a nice fit in Will Hardy’s system, and have a solid pro career as role player in the wing.
Trevon Brazile | F, Arkansas
If you’re looking for a lengthy, two-way impact player that could fit with the current standout size in this Jazz frontcourt, Brazile would be a perfect fit to bring in that would do just that.
He’s got great length standing at 6-foot-10, can be an ample shot blocker, is a threat at the rim who can finish well, stretches the floor, and on paper, looks like the type of piece in the frontcourt that many front offices around the league would love to get their hands on.
However, he has seen several questions regarding his lighter frame at 225 pounds, and has shown a lack of physicality and a real motor from his time at Arkansas. That same reason is why many GMs might turn away from taking a flier on him.
Jaden Bradley | G, Arizona
For the guards that are up for grabs in this range, Bradley has some of the best traits in terms of size at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and has the chance to be an impactful player on both ends of the floor as a solid playmaker and perimeter defender.
He wasn’t a high-volume scorer during his three years at Arizona, but he was efficient in his opportunities, shooting over 46% from the field and 39% from three on over nine shots a game. He could be a worthwhile dart throw to bring in for the back-end of the roster.
Another note that could make him a fun target for the Jazz: Bradley and Keyonte George are tight-knit from their days as teammates back at IMG Academy. So he’d be a pretty awesome fit into the locker room on top of the impact he offers on the floor.
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Utah
‘Now’s our time’: Utah Jazz fans rejoice as Darryn Peterson gives them something they’ve been missing
The rookie guard is already dreaming of a championship in Utah.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jazz fans celebrate as the Utah Jazz pick Darryn Peterson in the 2026 NBA Draft during a watch party at The Shops at South Town in Sandy, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
Utah
Utah mother charged with international kidnapping claims she was saving kids from ‘end of times’
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah mother, who believed she was saving her kids from “the end of times,” is facing federal kidnapping charges after she fled to Croatia with her four children.
Elleshia Anne Seymour, 35, of West Jordan, is accused of traveling to Europe with her four children without court approval or permission from the fathers of the children. On Jan. 28, she was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of international parental kidnapping and passport fraud. She made her initial federal court appearance Monday.
West Jordan police started urgently searching for the four kids in December after Kendall Seymour — father to the three oldest children — realized something was wrong when they didn’t show up to daycare. He had last seen the children a week prior when he dropped them off at school the week of Thanksgiving, which was the start of the mother’s scheduled custody time.
“Seymour did not notify the father of her intent to travel internationally with the children as required by the custody order,” federal prosecutors said.
The father told police he believed Seymour may have taken the children out of the country and forged his signature on the passport applications because he found passport-related envelopes in the trash at her apartment and other evidence that indicated she had left the country.
Elleshia Seymour was charged in 3rd District Court on Dec. 16 with four counts of custodial interference, a third-degree felony. A warrant was issued for her arrest as, according to charging documents, she “recently discussed obtaining passports and leaving the country, expressing concerns about biblical events and the ‘end of times’” with her ex-boyfriend.
Investigators located surveillance footage at the Salt Lake airport showing Seymour and the kids boarding a one-way flight to Croatia with a layover in Amsterdam. In a voicemail to her other ex-husband — the father of the youngest child — she claimed she was in France looking for a permanent residence.
“Seymour reminded him she had to get the children out of the country because the ‘end time is coming.’ Seymour allegedly told her ex-husband and father of the fourth child she wanted him to join them and asked him not to let the three children’s father know where she was,” federal prosecutors said.
Kendall Seymour said he was initially unaware of any of these beliefs and was concerned “she’s not in the right mind.” While there were no signs of the “doomsday” beliefs when they were married, he found a TikTok account where she was posting increasingly extreme religious messages.
With posts titled “Urgent Word,” “Brace Yourself,” “Zombies,” and “US Decimated,” she spoke of darkness consuming America, urged followers to “get provisions,” and warned that Salt Lake City would soon be destroyed. Police said witnesses they spoke to indicated Seymour had “previously suffered from emotional breakdowns and hallucinations.”
On Jan. 16, Seymour was arrested by Croatian authorities. The children were found in a state-run Croatian orphanage.
“It sounds like she met this other American citizen in Croatia under the pretense that she was bringing the kids here legally,” Kendall Seymour said. Once the American citizen living in Croatia heard the news about the children, the police were called, and their mother was taken into custody by Croatian authorities, the father said.
He was then contacted by Croatian police, who were holding the kids in a children’s home in the country. Croatian police at first would not release his children until documentation from the U.S. had been checked and rechecked. He stayed in the country for eight days trying to get them released.
On Feb. 1, he announced on a GoFundMe* that he and the four children were on their way home.
Seymour was extradited to Utah from Croatia on June 12 and was booked into the Davis County Jail. She has a detention hearing scheduled next week in federal court and an initial appearance for the state charges on July 13.
“The safe return of the children remains our highest priority. We are deeply grateful to our federal and international partners for their tireless efforts in bringing about this successful outcome,” said U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah. “Our work is not finished — we will continue to pursue justice in the case against Seymour.”
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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