LOGAN – At their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 15, the members of the Logan Municipal Council are scheduled to hear the results of a study of the feasibility of creating a local solar array.
That study, which was requested by Council Chair Jeannie Simmonds back in March, is slated to be delivered by Mark Montgomery, the director of Logan Light & Power.
Simmonds’ original request was for a study of the feasibility of creating a solar array with the capacity to deliver 15 mega-watts of energy, including battery storage, at a location or locations within Logan city limits.
The results of the study seem likely to re-ignite debate that has occurred in council meetings since January between council members and environmental idealists over the future of Logan power acquisitions.
In several packed meetings since that time, local activists have vocally expressed their disapproval of any attempt by city officials to invest in electrical power delivered by the burning of fossil fuels.
Under the influence of council member and mayoral candidate Mark Anderson, however, the city has followed a more cautious “all-of-the-above” approach to energy purchases, including a 25-year, $206 million contract with a power plant in Millard County that would satisfy the city’s projected peak power requirements and the purchase of 15 mega-watts of base load power from the Power County Power Project in Idaho.
That approach infuriated supporters hoping for a transition to clean energy, notably wind and solar power generation.
If Logan chooses to build a 15 mega-watt solar array, city officials can probably count on little financial support from federal sources, since the Trump administration has apparently turned its back on dreams of a clean energy economy.
While the budget reconciliation bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 expands some tax credits for fossil fuels and strategic commodities, it simultaneously repeals or phases out many key tax credits for clean energy, electric vehicles and energy efficiency measures, according to analysis by Roll Call, an inside-the-Beltway journal in Washington, D.C.
That legislation is expected to throttle the Green New Deal initiatives advanced by the former Biden administration.
Specifically, the “Big Beautiful Bill” expands oil and gas leasing in areas of wilderness in Alaska and boosts energy security by funding the refilling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
On a more positive note, the reconciliation bill also expands the carbon oxide sequestration credit, potentially encouraging carbon capture and storage technologies associated with fossil fuels.
Progress in those technologies has been applauded recently by Sen. John Curtis (R-UT).
Carbon sequestration is the process of removing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. That’s achieved by capturing CO2 from industrial sources, power plants or directly from the atmosphere and then storing it in safe and permanent locations.
Carbon capture is a process that collects and prevents the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from sources like power plants and industrial facilities. This captured CO2 can then be used for various purposes or stored underground to prevent it from entering the atmosphere.
But environmentalists will find other provisions of the budget bill – like the repeal of tax credits for solar, wind and hydrogen projects – hard to swallow.
Critics of the “Big Beautiful Bill” argue that the new law will lead to greater reliance on fossil fuels, slow progress toward a clean energy transition and negatively impact jobs in the renewable energy sector.
The results of the solar feasibility study will be delivered early in the regular meeting of the Logan Municipal Council at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15.
All council meeting are held at City Hall located at 290 North, 100 West in downtown Logan.