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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Utah Cities Take the Lead in Switch to Renewable Energy

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Friday, November 24, 2017   

SALT LAKE CITY – As the Trump administration continues to roll back Obama-era policies designed to slow climate change, a new report from the Sierra Club shows how 50 cities across the U.S., including three in Utah, are taking steps to remove fossil fuels from their energy portfolios.

Lindsay Beebe, an organizer with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Utah, says residents along the Wasatch Front recognize that something needs to be done to improve air quality.

"This leadership displayed by the mayor and city council of Salt Lake in committing to 100 percent clean energy can really take us a step forward to protecting public health and the environment,” she states.

Beebe says local leadership is especially important because of a law on the books that prohibits state-directed action on climate change, claiming that the science on the issue is unclear.

Moab, Park City and Salt Lake City all have made official commitments to begin a glide path away from fossil fuels.

Jodie Van Horn, the national director of the Ready for 100 Campaign, says five U.S. cities already have met their goals and are powered solely by renewables.

She says while some of the cities may have little in common, they share a commitment to a clean energy future.

"There has been a movement of cities across the United States – red and blue, West and East, and everything in between – moving towards 100 percent clean, renewable energy like solar and wind," she stresses.

Municipalities highlighted in the 2017 "Ready for 100" report include "left-coast" cities such as Portland, Ore., and Abita Springs, a small town with a Republican mayor in Louisiana, a deep red state.

Van Horn explains each city has made a commitment to 100 percent renewables in one or more energy sectors – electricity, buildings or transportation.




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