Utah
Opinion: Utah's power grid needs infrastructure improvement — now
They say the best time to plant a tree is yesterday. The best time for transmission buildout was 20 years ago.
Transmission buildout is not optional. It is a necessary next step in achieving affordable, clean energy access for all Utahns and updating our power grid. To move energy across the state from city centers in Salt Lake City to more rural areas like Cache Valley or Tooele County, updating our aging infrastructure is a necessity. This necessity is growing daily, as is the need for modernization and build-out in order to meet the Beehive State’s rapidly growing energy demand. Once we’re done playing catch-up, Utah is uniquely positioned to get ahead of the curve and become a national leader in this new frontier of energy abundance.
Many Utahns are well aware of this fact, and Governor Cox is no exception. He has championed Operation Gigawatt, Utah’s new plan for powering its energy future, over the past year. Even if Utah produces all the energy in the world, however, it won’t matter without the means to transport it across the state. Fortunately, the plan has stated “increasing transmission capacity” as one of the four key areas of the initiative. At a time when energy demand is skyrocketing, Operation Gigawatt could not have come along sooner.
With 70% of U.S. transmission lines over 25 years old and nearing the end of their useful life, our nation faces an undeniable need for infrastructure improvement. The time for transmission buildout is now. As one of the fastest-growing states in both economy and population, Utah must keep up with the ever-growing need for power. Our population is spreading out across the state due to city centers filling up fast, and the energy needs follow.
While the need to produce more clean, sustainable energy will come, the production is not the only problem. The U.S. has nearly 2,600 gigawatts of energy generation trapped in the queue waiting to be connected to the grid and reach Utahns who need it most. This is enough energy to power 2,277,600 homes on average a year, and it is simply not being used. If we focus more effort on transmission buildout, we can utilize the energy that is just sitting there and be prepared to transport newly produced energy more effectively in the future. This means transmission buildout should be at the top of our priority list.
Yet another benefit to building out our transmission is that Utahns’ existing monthly bills will go down, and the ability for local economies to grow will skyrocket. Transmission buildout projects such as the Cross-Tie transmission line — a 214-mile line connecting Utah and Nevada, expected to be in service by 2028 — not only aid us in our effort toward energy dominance, but also provide a wide range of jobs to local communities with otherwise very little economic stimulation. These projects could help small businesses in these rural communities simply by bringing the power and more people into town.
The bottom line is that right now is the time for transmission buildout in Utah, and it should be at the forefront of the conversation surrounding energy grid development. Expanding the grid will benefit all Utahns across the board by lowering monthly bills and reducing reliance on high-cost power sources. Along with cheaper energy, providing more renewable energy access means less price volatility for Utah, and modernizing the grid also creates jobs and economic growth in local communities.
We should have planted our tree 20 years ago, but there is no better time than the present to put transmission buildout at the top of our priority list and begin achieving energy abundance for Utah.
Utah
Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Utah
Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
Utah
Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
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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