SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) will host the 4th Annual Conservative Climate Summit in Salt Lake on Friday, Oct. 17.
The purpose of that event, Curtis says, is to bring together conservative leaders, industry innovators and policy-makers to shape market-driven climate and energy solutions.
The summit meeting is slated for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the A. Ray Olpin Student Union on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
The guest speakers for the gathering of thought leaders from the pubic and private energy sectors will include Chris Wright, the U.S. Secretary of Energy.
Regarding climate issues, Curtis has been famously quoted as saying that “… if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu.”
The point, he explains, is that by staying out of the conversation on climate and environmental issues, conservatives forfeit their ability to shape policy outcomes. That stance is a central theme in the efforts of Utah’s junior senator to bring more Republicans into the climate debate.
While still a member of the House of Representatives in 2021, Curtis founded the Conservative Climate Caucus to educate Republicans on climate policies that align with conservative principles. This effort goes hand-in-hand with his philosophy that conservatives must have a voice in the climate discussion.
In his role as the head of the U.S. Department of Energy, Wright has repeatedly questioned the need for immediate action on alleged climate change and whether the Trump administration should support so-called green energy initiatives, including large-scale wind and solar projects.
In recent remarks to the digital journal POLITICO, Curtis said he plans to chat with Wright during the summit about a list of green energy projects that now appear to be in danger of being cancelled, in addition to almost $8 billion in grants for green initiatives that have already been erased by Trump executive orders.
”(Wright) and I perhaps have some differences that came out in the ‘big, beautiful bill’,” Curtis told POLITICO. “But there’s a lot that we are in harmony and actually agree on.”
Other discussions at the 4th Annual Conservative Climate Summit will focus on energy innovation and ways to strengthen the American energy industry through smart policies.
The Olpin Student Union is located at 200 South Central Campus Drive on the U of U campus in Salt Lake City.
Launched in 2007, POLITICO is an American political journalism organization that covers politics, policy and power in the United States and globally. It provides news, analysis, opinion and breaking information through its websites, newsletters, podcasts and print newspapers.